What is STEM?
The technical and scientific subjects are called “MINT” Mathematics, Informatik, Nnatural sciences and Ttechnology. At school these include subjects such as mathematics, computer science, biology, chemistry and physics.
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Every third training in the MINT area
Last year around 34 percent of all new training contracts in the MINT area were concluded. The most popular MINT apprenticeships were automotive mechatronics, IT and industrial mechanics. However, around 21,000 fewer STEM training contracts were concluded than in the previous year. This is partly due to demographic trends and the trend that many young people prefer to study. According to the study, about 25 percent is also due to the pandemic.
Around every fifth training in the MINT area is dropped out. The numbers fluctuate greatly between the different professions. In technical professions, the dropout rate is sometimes even 30 percent, for example in metal construction or electronics training (36 and 34 percent).
Around a third of all dropouts take place in the first four months of training, and another third in the first year. The drop-outs in the first four months are usually due to the fact that professional interests and activities in the training do not match. Later drop-outs are often due to the training requirements that the trainees cannot cope with.
50 percent of all MINT students begin an engineering degree
MINT courses make up 38 percent of new students – half of them start an engineering degree. This means that the number of new MINT students remains largely stable. But even if the number of new students studying computer science has almost doubled since 2015, there are too few to respond appropriately to the increased needs.
Deficits already in elementary school
An important finding of the young talent barometer: There are too many underperforming STEM students in Germany. Compared to the EU and OECD, the competencies of primary school children are now below average. Around a quarter of the children do not achieve the mathematical skills required for secondary school. In the natural sciences – integrated in the subject-matter class in elementary school – this group has even grown since 2015.
Only one in ten STEM training positions is occupied by women
Advanced physics courses in Germany are still dominated by students: only every fourth course member is female. In addition, only 11 percent of the newly concluded MINT training contracts were concluded by young women, and only 25 percent of female students begin engineering studies.
Tatjana König, Head of the Körber Foundation, emphasizes the importance of good STEM education for all schoolchildren: “The school closings due to the pandemic show us, particularly painfully, that equitable education for all children and young people regardless of their cultural and social backgrounds as well as her gender is far from being reached. “
(ID:47401124)
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