Female Electrical Engineering Degree Students Performance Based on Different Entry Levels: A Malaysian Case Study

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1 Female Electrical Engineering Degree Students Performance Based on Different Entry Levels: A Malaysian Case Study PAUZIAH MOHD ARSAD 1, NORLIDA BUNIYAMIN 2, JAMALUL-LAIL AB MANAN 3, ROSNI ABU KASSIM 4 Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Selangor MALAYSIA [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected] 3 Advanced Information Security Cluster, MIMOS Bhd, 57 Technology Park Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. {jamalul.lail, faizal.mubarak, anuar.isa}@mimos.my Abstract: - This paper describes the performance of female Engineering Electrical Degree students at Faculty of Electrical Engineering Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia. The study was based on longitudinal progress of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) every semester until graduation for two consecutive intakes of matriculation students namely July 25 and July 26. Then the same methodology was applied to other consecutive intakes of Diploma July 26 and July 27 students intakes.the outcomes of the research indicate that the female did perform fairly well in all cases despite being the minority and underrepresented as far as Electrical Degree Engineering Program is concerned. It can be ascertained that the capabilities and self-efficacy of female students are strong factors in influencing the overall academic performance. Keywords: - female, academic performance, self-efficacy and CGPA 1 Introductions The education system in Malaysia is very well structured right from pre-school to secondary school. Arsad, Buniyamin, and Manan [1] ascertain that the education system in Malaysia is open to all students irrespective of gender right from the early education to higher education. On top of that Malaysia is also one of the countries in the Asian region that acknowledges the importance of education and is in tandem with Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that adheres to equal access to and equal treatment of female and men in education to reduce gender inequality. The education system adopted is based on Education for All (EFA) Dakar Goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2 that emphasized the promotion of gender and empowering female through education. In fact today more female in Malaysia are pursuing higher education in various courses such as arts and humanities as well as science and technology in the public universities. Statistics showed that there are more female students in the higher education and takes up 58.8 of the total enrolment in colleges and universities. [2] Ariffin et all [3] asserted that students achievement in public examinations and those university graduates in Malaysia shows such pattern being dominated by the females. ISBN:

2 Vimala R [4] reported that Malaysia, one of the countries in Asia-Pacific Region that has Gender Parity Index (GPI) for tertiary education exceeds 1, implying that more female access higher education in comparison to men. With that index, it will definitely help to boost the nation development workforce which includes female that account for nearly half (48) of the working-age population (15-64 years). This implies that the female s economic contribution towards optimising the potential of female in the country s social and economic development is of dire importance. With increased access to education and training has in fact created greater opportunities for female to participate in the labour market. [5] In fact John et all [6] pointed out that in order to meet any nation s need and preparing for workplace, the engineering schools need to attract more students into the programs particularly the minorities as well as underrepresented and at the same time further improve the retention rate of students who had chosen to take up engineering courses. Vimala R [4] pointed out that the issue of access to higher education is greatly influenced by several factors. The factors include students themselves and their family background. The academic performance in primary and secondary education also greatly influenced their interest especially in the science and technology based program. Apart from that, the government policy for higher education also influenced the total access to such higher education especially in the technology based program. the Advanced Diploma Programme which started in Arsad P.M [1] pointed out that such Degree program is open to all students who are qualified into the system based on Matriculation and Diploma results irrespective of their gender. All students have equal access into the Program provided they meet the requirement set by the Faculty. The Bachelor Degree Program is a four-year program for Matriculation and a three-year program for Diploma students. The Program curriculum includes lectures and coursework, Laboratory Experiments, Computer Simulation, industrial training and site visits. Every single student has equal opportunity to carry out the experiments and simulation work irrespective of gender. 3 Research Background Mika et all [7] suggested that insufficient skills in basic mathematics caused problems for any students who pursued in engineering. In fact students attitudes including orientation, intentions and motivations are factors that influence their learning styles which further influence students achievement. Arsad P.M [8] reported that there are many factors that contribute to the performance of students. The factors include students themselves, environment, curriculum and teachers. The objectives are to identify the factors that contribute to the performance of students particularly the female Electrical engineering students and to analyse any correlation between the abilities of students at entry point to the overall academic performance. 2 Bachelor Electrical Degree Program in UiTM Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) is one of the institutes of higher learning in Malaysia that offers engineering courses. To date it has Civil, Mechanical, Chemical and Electrical Engineering programs running separately at its own faculty. The Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Electrical Programme evolved from 4 Methodology The methodology used in the study is the longitudinal progress of students from different batches. CGPA was the only parameters measured as far as academic performance of students are concerned. The first sample of the study was taken from first batch of students from Matriculation intake in July 25. We noted the first semester CGPA of the students from matriculation and that of Diploma intakes. We ISBN:

3 also keep track of their CGPA results for every semester until graduation. Then we took the second sample of students from matriculation intake July 26. We track their performance using the same longitudinal progress based on CGPA. We focused on the following factors: i. performance of students at first semester with preference on gender ii. CGPA follow through iii. final CGPA correlation with the first semester iv. The total number of male and female students at entry points v. Performance Comparison of male and female students vi. Factors that influence the academic performance. Failed 26 Total From the Table1 and 2 it can be seen that the total number of male students is higher than the female students as expected especially in the Science and Technology based Program. For intake July 25, only fifty male students and thirty three female students managed to reach the final semester or the eighth semester. From that figure, eight male and five female students extended to complete the requirement credit hours to secure a Bachelor Degree. As for the performance comparison, the female did better in terms of percentages secured in the first, second upper and even en the second lower. Such comparison is shown in Figure 1 below. 5 Findings 5.1 Matriculation Table 1 and Table 2 show the overall enrolment of Matriculation students mainly intake July 25 and July 26. Table 1 Matrix 25 M M 1st 4 8 2, , rd Extended 8 16 Failed 8 Total 58 F F Figure 1 The same comparison study was made to the following intake namely intake July 26. The pattern seemed to be the same, whereby the female students have secured higher percentage in terms of classes be it in the first, second upper and even second lower. Table 2 Matrix 26 M 1st , , rd Extended F ISBN:

4 Gender Performance Comparison Matrix Intake July 26 35, ,6 18,3 2 8,4 1,2 5.2 Diploma Figure 2 The same approach was applied to the intakes of Diploma intakes namely July y 26 and July 27. Tables 3 and Table 4 show the intakes for Diploma into the Program whereby they can complete their study within six semesters or three years. We can see that the total numbers of male students are still higher than that of female students. For July intake the male students are doubled that of female students. Table 3 Diploma 26 M M 1st 2, , rd Extended Failed 15 Total 14 1st 2,1 2,2 3rd Class Table 4 Diploma 27 M M 1st , , rd Extended Failed 32 F F M F F F Total It can be seen from Table 3 only eighty nine(89) male students and seventy three (73) female students managed to reach final semester before graduating. However, twenty one (21) male and seventeen female extended their study to complete the whole program. From Table 4. thirty two (32) male and eight (8) female were dismissed along the program before reaching the final semester. One hundred and thirty six (136) male and fifty two (52) female managed to graduate on time. Then a general comparison was made based on the performance at the end of semester eight in terms of classes secured. Figures 3 and 4 show such comparison between the male and female performance. It can be seen that the male students secured higher percentage in the second lower as compared to female students but the feamle students are better in the first and second upper. The same approach was taken for the second batch of Diploma namely July 27 and such result is shown in Figure 4. It can be seen that the males students did better in the second upper and second lower. Gender performance Comparison Diploma Intake July 26 54,8 6 47,2 4 29,2 12,3 2 9,5 M F 1st 2,1 2,2 3rd Class Figure 3 ISBN:

5 Gender Performance Comparison Diploma Intake July ,2 4,2 4 22,3 1,8 13, M F 1st 2,1 2,2 3rd Class However for Diploma intakes July 27, the male students performed better in the overall performance. The authors tried to trace back the entry CGPA of the Diploma holders and found that the CGPA was extremely high at the entry point or upon completion of Diploma Program. Figure 4 Then final comparison was made between Matriculation and Diploma to have a better view as they attended the same examination year within the same program. In this context, the matriculation intake July 25 will be in the same academic year as that of Diploma intake July 26 year when they all graduate in April 29. Such comparison is shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that the performance is better er for the female students both from Matriculation as well as Diploma intakes. Gender Performance Comparison Between Matrix and Diploma 5 Intakes Figure 6 1st 2,1 2,2 3rd Gender Performance Comparison between Matrix and Diploma Intakes Figure 5 1st 2,1 2,2 3rd 6 Conclusion Based on the findings, it be seen that the female students performed better be it from Matriculation or Diploma intakes. The performance really depends on the ability of students in the mathematics and physics foundation in the secondary school education irrespective of gender. In conclusion, students whether male or female with strong ability in mathematics and physics at the entry level of such Degree Program will have good academics performance upon graduation. In addition female students with strong abilities in mathematics and physics coupled with self-efficacy and strong ISBN:

6 determination will definitely achieve their targeted academic performance. Studies International Forum 29 (26) REFERENCES [1] Arsad P M, Buniyamin N, Manan J A Profiling the Performance of Electrical Engineering Bachelor Degree Students Based on Different Entry Levels, International Journal of Education and Information Technologies Issue 2, Volume 5, 211 [2] Eliminating gender inequality through Education, ves/pdf/chaynee13_6_25.pdf-retrieved at 1 Jan 211 [3] Ariffin S R, Ibrahim S I,Malek N H M A,Sarif SH, Yassin SF M Gender Diffferential Item functioning (GDIF) in an Online Intelligence Test, 9th WSEAS International Conference on education and Educational Technology (EDU 1) [4] Vimala R (21). Gender Issues in Higher Education - Advocacy Brief. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok [5] Moving towards Gender equality in the Workplace, ves/pdf/chaynee13_6_25.pdf-retrieved at 1 Jan211 [6] John C Chen, Samuel O-O, Devdas P, A Study Academic Performance in Mechanical Engineering [7] Huikkola M, S Kirsi, P Seppo, Clustering and achievement of Engineering Students based on their attitudes, orientation, motivations and intention WSEAS Transaction on Advances in Engineering Education, Issues 5, Volume 5 May 28 [8] Arsad P M, Buniyamin N, Rasheid N A (21) Evaluation of Academic Performance of Electrical Engineering bachelor Degree Students from Various Entry Levels: a Case Study, 9th WSEAS International Conference on Education and Educational Technology (EDU 1) [9] Gunawardena C, (26), Quantitative and Qualitative dimensions of Gender Equality in Sri Lankan Higher Education, Female ISBN: