Addressing Social and Academic Integration Challenges of Stem Students: Co-Creating Interventions for First-Year Minority Students

Despite ongoing efforts to enhance enrolment in STEM programs, dropout rates among first-year students remain significantly high, particularly among minority groups such as women, first-generation students, and apprenticeship students (Martin, 2017). These students often face unique challenges related to their social and academic integration (SAInt), which are crucial for persistence and academic success in higher education (Tinto, 1975). The In-4-STEM project aims to address these challenges by designing, implementing, and evaluating innovative interventions that support minority students during their transition into higher education (Erasmus+, 2024). This interactive workshop presents initial findings from focus groups with first-year STEM students, offering insights into the experiences and integration challenges faced by minority groups. Building on these insights, participants will consider their own institutional contexts and engage in a structured, collaborative process to design interventions targeting SAInt challenges. Through working in small groups, participants will create preliminary designs for interventions that can be implemented or adapted to their specific settings and offer constructive feedback on each other's designs. The workshop therefore aims to foster inter-institutional dialogue, stimulate critical reflection, and inspire participants to consider solutions that can enhance minority students' social and academic integration. Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of the integration challenges faced by minority students and a co-developed intervention, enriched by peer feedback about the constraints that are associated with the implementation of this particular intervention. Outputs from the workshop will also contribute to the In-4-STEM toolbox that aims to support educational innovators and lecturers worldwide to develop strategies to tackle SAInt challenges experienced by a diverse group of new STEM students.