A Best Practice for Attracting Female Students to Enrol in ICT Studies

The extremely low rates of females compared to men, enrolled at Computer Sciences (CS) and Information Systems Universities result not only in a massive loss of talent for companies and economies but also perpetuate gaps in gender inequality in the ICT field. To face this, Universities and Research Organizations are gradually taking initiatives to address such gender imbalance, trying to intervene and raise the awareness on a complex set of rooted cultural/societal gender stereotypes, including gender bias and linking ICT with masculinity that are permeating early school education, STEM teaching practices and parents’ attitudes. This approach is based on several studies on the current students that highlight how female bachelor students in CS have lower levels of self-confidence compared to their male counterparts which can negatively impact on their plans to continue their studies. Towards this direction, the Horizon 2020 EQUAL-IST (Gender Equality Plans for Information Sciences and Technology Research Institutions) project supports six Universities across Europe (Italy, Lithuania, Germany, Ukraine, Finland, Portugal) to design and implement actions towards gender equality, with a specific focus on the ICT/IST area. The Universities have settled up several concrete initiatives to attract female students towards ICT studies. Specifically, this paper presents the best practice implemented at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, (UniMORE) the Summer Camp namely Ragazze Digitali (Digital Girls). The summer camp offers to female students of third and fourth grade of the high schools a first-hand experience based on a learn-by-doing approach to coding applied to creative and innovative fields, as well as inspiring female role models from the academia and the industry. For its scope, nature (free for the girls to participate) and duration (four entire weeks), the Summer Camp Ragazze Digitali represents a unique experience not only in Italy but also in Europe and, at the best of our knowledge, in the world. The paper describes the Summer Camp experience, highlighting the impacts of this experience on the female students, with particular attention to changed attitudes and plans for their future studies and careers.