STEM subjects

MINT subjects is a comprehensive term for teaching and study subjects or professions in the fields of mathematics , computer science , natural sciences and technology .

To the subject

The term "MINT" is an initial word that was formed from the terms mathematics, computer science, natural science and technology. The MINT departments form the central economic innovation sector, with structural sciences being added to the classic areas of natural science and technology in the digital age .

A comparable term in English is STEM (or STEM fields) . STEM as an acronym refers to:

• science (i.e. natural sciences),
• technology (roughly "technology"),
• engineering ( engineering , this group of subjects is not directly mentioned in the German term. In a certain way, the word "technology" also represents engineering) and
• mathematics (Computer science, not available in the English term STEM, is roughly at the intersection of mathematics, engineering and technology )

Economical meaning

In Germany, around 2.3 million MINT academics are employed in a broad sense. The cross-industry added value is estimated at 250 billion euros. In Switzerland, the official statistics indicate “a total of 17,300 employed MINT specialists”.

The spring report 2013 of the employer-related institute of the German economy emphasizes the importance of the availability of innovation-relevant workers with a STEM focus for the innovative strength of companies, especially for the metal and electrical industry . The report also reveals a change in the STEM demographic composition. Between 2005 and 2010, the average age of employed MINT academics rose by 0.7 years and the proportion of those over 55 by 34.1%.

Due to the economic importance of the MINT subjects, in view of forecasts that predict a shortage of skilled workers in these subjects in the future , numerous projects and initiatives have been formed around the offer, some of which are carried out by the public sector or publicly funded by the economy to increase the number of skilled workers in this field. In particular, foreign students and graduates of the MINT subjects, the majority of whom leave the country again after some time, should be more closely linked to Germany and integrated more quickly, which also requires more academic freedom .

At the same time, there are repeated reports in the media about complaints from graduates who, after completing their studies, do not find a permanent position, but rather a temporary position . In addition, due to a trend towards higher educational qualifications, it is not clear whether there will be a shortage of more skilled workers with a degree or more skilled workers with dual vocational training in the future .

In Germany, the proportion of those studying a MINT subject among new students was 40% in 2015. The proportion of women among new students in the MINT subjects had risen to almost 32%.

school

Germany

In Germany, due to the cultural sovereignty of the federal states, the individual federal states largely decide on the extent and type of teaching in STEM subjects. The Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) sets minimum standards for teaching across countries .

In 2009 the KMK published its "Recommendations for Strengthening Mathematical and Scientific Education" with recommendations for improving the early promotion of mathematical and scientific interest, increasing the practical relevance of teaching and recruiting teachers for STEM subjects.

Projects and institutions

There are various institutions and initiatives promoting these areas of expertise, including

• in Germany:
  • The House of Little Researchers Foundation
  • German association for the promotion of mathematics and science teaching
  • Come on, do MINT (for women in MINT professions)
  • MINT creating the future
  • Science on Stage Germany
  • MINT-EC (Excellence Center in Schools)
  • ExperiMINTa (interactive museum)
  • Future through Innovation.NRW (zdi.NRW); Joint initiative to promote young scientists and engineers in North Rhine-Westphalia .
  • Girls Technology Congress (Motto: "MINT - discover, experience, touch!")
  • The Siemens Stiftung with the international educational program Experimento and the online platform media portal
  • The project Sturm des Wissens , also known as Science Soap , which was awarded by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft , is a web series with a scientific focus and is intended to make starting a MINT course more attractive for young women.
  • One of the longest-running initiatives in the MINT area is the Roberta - Girls Conquer Robots project, funded by the BMBF and initiated by Fraunhofer in 2002 .
  • The Science and Technology Initiative (NAT) held its own student congress for the first time on July 19, 2016 in Hamburg.
  • The initiative "Promote MiNTeresse" has carried out over-school projects and competitions in the Münsterland (North Rhine-Westphalia) since 2007.
  • MINTFIT Hamburg: Since 2014, online orientation tests and e-learning offers for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computer science have been offered as preparation for a MINT degree in order to reduce the drop-out rate in MINT subjects.
  • Also in order to reduce drop-out rates, the University of Kassel introduced a trial MINT course for the first time in the 2019/20 winter semester.

• in Austria:
  • New initiative for more women in technology. Futurezone , October 7, 2015, accessed September 25, 2017 . 
  • Women and Technology! SPÖ , April 15, 2015, accessed on September 25, 2017 . 
  • STEM - studying what creates the future. Federal Ministry of Science and Research , archived from the original on February 24, 2014 ; Retrieved September 25, 2017 . 
• in Spain :
  • the Ibercivis Foundation
• in the United States:
  • First Lego League and First Tech Challenge
  • the Science Fairs of the school districts

Programs for recruiting students from abroad are also being planned in Germany.

See also : MINT candy

Trivia

The so-called Scully effect describes the fact that knowledge of the fictional character Scully enables conclusions to be drawn about the career choice in one of the MINT occupations. Women who are familiar with this character are more likely to work in a STEM subject.

literature

• Christianne Corbett, Catherine Hill: Solving the Equation. The Variables for Women's Success in Engineering and Computing . Ed .: American Association of University Women . Washington, DC 2015, ISBN 978-1-879922-45-7 (American English, Solving the Equation [PDF; 4.0 MB ; accessed on September 25, 2017]).
• Catherine Hill, Christianne Corbett: Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics . Ed .: American Association of University Women . Washington, DC 2010, ISBN 978-1-879922-40-2 (American English, Why So Few? [PDF; 3.2 MB ; accessed on September 25, 2017]).
• Gudrun Kalmbach : MINT (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, technology). Several volumes. Aegis-Verlag Ulm and MINT Verlag Bad Wörishofen, ISBN 3981564081 , ISBN 9783981564082 .

Web links

• University of Koblenz-Landau : University of Koblenz partner in the Horizon 2020 project “SellSTEM”. In: idw-online.de . June 8, 2020 ("... an international research project will be carried out from March 2021 that aims to improve the spatial skills of young people").
• Gesine Wagner: Skilled labor shortage: gender gap in the MINT area. In: MarktundMittelstand.de . April 1, 2020 ("Rosemarie Kay from the Institute for SME Research in Bonn knows why there are still too few women working in the natural sciences ").
• Stefan Krempl : Digital Gender Gap: When it comes to digitization, women do worse than men. In: Heise online . January 6, 2020 (“In the digital index of the D21 initiative, women achieve a lower degree of digitization than men across all socio-demographic characteristics”).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christina Anger, Wido Geis, Axel Plünnecke; Institute of the German Economy Cologne (IW): MINT - Spring Report 2012 , p. 3 ( pdf ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ). 
2. ↑ Petra Koller, Véronique Meffre (edit.), Federal Statistical Office (ed.): MINT specialists on the job market . In: Statistics of Switzerland . Chapter 15 Education and Science. Neuchâtel, 2013, p. 9 ( Chapter 15 ( Memento of the original of April 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ). 
3. ↑ MINT Spring Report 2013. (PDF; 2.7 MB) (No longer available online.) IW, May 6, 2013, archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; accessed on May 6, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Executive Summary , section “Growing demand for the MINT innovation driver”, p. 4.   
4. ↑ MINT Spring Report 2013. (PDF; 2.7 MB) (No longer available online.) IW, May 6, 2013, archived from the original on March 5, 2016 ; accessed on May 6, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Executive Summary , Section “Structural Changes in STEM Employment”, pp. 4–5.  
5. ↑ STEM graduates: Universities and companies want to lure foreign students , Spiegel Online, May 6, 2014
6. ↑ We need more freedom for scientific creativity , Humboldt Foundation, accessed on April 25, 2015
7. ↑ Unemployment among skilled workers: myth of the lack of engineers. sueddeutsche.de, March 10, 2014, accessed on May 6, 2014 . 
8. ↑ The proportion of women in MINT courses has risen to over 30 percent. heise online, December 20, 2016, accessed December 20, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Mathematics, science and technology lessons. Conference of Ministers of Education, accessed on May 6, 2014 . 
10. ↑ The Foundation. Retrieved August 16, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Come on, do STEM
12. ↑ MINT creating the future
13. ↑ mint-ec.de
14. ↑ Science Center EXPERIMINTA - "Touching welcome" instead of "touching prohibited"
15. ↑ Home. Retrieved on August 29, 2019 (German). 
16. ↑ Experimento - International MINT educational program. Retrieved on July 23, 2020 (German). 
17. ↑ Home - Siemens Stiftung media portal. Retrieved July 23, 2020 . 
18. ^ BMBF final report
19. ↑ Roberta. Learning with robots. Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems , accessed on September 25, 2017 . 
20. ↑ Science and Technology Initiative (NAT). Retrieved January 25, 2017 . 
21. ↑ 1st Climate School Congress with over 650 guests. Retrieved January 25, 2017 . 
22. ↑ InitiativeNaT: Climate Change: Avoid or Adapt? - Climate - the student congress. October 4, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2017 . 
23. ↑ IT project Münster - promoting MiNTeresse
24. ↑ ITPMS-BLOG (archive) . In: IT project Münster . December 27, 2016 ( it-projekt-muenster.de [accessed January 25, 2017]).
25. ↑ MINTFIT Hamburg. Retrieved April 25, 2020 . 
26. ↑ Press release of the University of Kassel from February 19, 2019
27. ↑ Shortage of skilled workers in the MINT area: Business wants to poach students abroad. sueddeutsche.de, May 6, 2014, accessed on May 6, 2014 .