Dr. Maria Kyne:

I agree with everything the other speakers said. The integrated curriculum is something new that is coming into the technological university area, particularly in the ICT space because that cuts across business, arts and engineering. We had an Explore Engineering “Inspire” event where we had ten women presenting to girls from all of the local mid-west schools. We brought them into the Technological University of the Shannon, TUS, in early December. Some of them went down the traditional engineering route where they got their engineering degree, went on to do a doctorate and became a lecturer or went into industry. About six out of the ten came from arts, maths or science backgrounds and ended up in engineering careers. They told the girls there are wonderful opportunities and there is great joy in ending up in an engineering environment. They talked about how, throughout their careers, they found themselves in an engineering or a STEM environment. I found that enlightening. It was good for the girls to hear that even if they start out down a particular road, such as business or arts, there are opportunities to cross over into engineering and STEM careers. We had live models and examples of that on the day.