Better Balance in Informatics: An Honest Discussion with Students
Elisavet Kozyri, Mariel Evelyn Markussen Ellingsen, Ragnhild Abel, Grape, Letizia Jaccheri

TL;DR
This paper discusses structured student discussions at UiT to identify strategies for reducing gender imbalance in computer science education and academia, offering actionable recommendations and a roadmap for other institutions.
Contribution
It introduces a structured discussion approach to identify gender balance strategies and provides a practical roadmap for implementation in academic departments.
Findings
Identified key factors affecting gender balance in CS education.
Proposed specific actions to improve gender representation.
Provided a replicable framework for other institutions.
Abstract
In recent years, there has been considerable effort to promote gender balance in the academic environment of Computer Science (CS). However, there is still a gender gap at all CS academic levels: from students, to PhD candidates, to faculty members. This general trend is followed by the Department of Computer Science at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. To combat this trend within the CS environment at UiT, we embarked on structured discussions with students of our department. After analyzing the data collected from these discussions, we were able to identify action items that could mitigate the existing gender gap at our department. In particular, these discussions elucidated ways to achieve (i) a balanced flow of students into CS undergraduate program, (ii) a balanced CS study environment, and (iii) a balanced flow of graduates into higher levels of the CS academia (e.g., PhD…
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Taxonomy
TopicsTeaching and Learning Programming · Gender and Technology in Education · Information Systems Education and Curriculum Development
