A UPC innovation teaching project for the incorporation of the gender perspective in nautical, marine and naval engineering

There has been a rising awareness in recent years of the gender inequalities within STEM-related programmes and the need to overcome them and so bridge the gender gap in these academic disciplines. Different initiatives have arisen, among which there are gender equality policies, regulations and programmes. In line with this, the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU) promoted a regulation for the incorporation of the gender perspective in all the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in tertiary education in Catalonia by 2021. To comply with this regulation and also to promote a culture of equity and equality of opportunities for women, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) fostered different projects within its community. One of these projects has been developed by the Gender Equality Commission at Barcelona School of Nautical Studies and consists in the development of a web platform with resources for lecturers to incorporate this new transversal competence of gender perspective in the nautical, marine and naval engineering study plans. The main objective of this teaching innovation project is to aid teachers with the incorporation of this competence not only by providing online tools and resources but also gender-focused teacher training to allow them to design tailor-made activities and strategies. Some tests were also administered to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of these newly-designed gender equality teaching practices and some sample study plans and activities were developed to serve as a model and example of good practices for the incorporation of gender mainstreaming in the disciplines of nautical, marine and naval engineering.