Worldwide there is a shortage of engineers and engineering technicians. In the U.S. and the U.K., the demand for a skilled and educated workforce of engineers and engineering technicians is greater than the supply. Not only are there demands to fill newly created positions in the engineering sector, but there is also a need to fill existing vacancies that require a sub-baccalaureate degree at a minimum (Carnevale, Smith, & Melton, 2011). The need is greater than other sectors because the sub-baccalaureate programs prepare graduates with the fundamental knowledge and skills in at least eight types of engineering occupations (i.e., aerospace; civil; electrical and electronics; electro-mechanical; mechanical; environmental; industrial; survey and mapping). According to the Royal Academy of Engineering, the UK must graduate more than twice as many students, at least 1 million, in engineering and engineering technician programmes (Harrison, 2012). In the U.S., employment growth projections for engineering technicians in several disciplines through 2020 are as high as 30 percent, surpassing all other occupations (U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). Of the new and replacement engineering and engineering technologies jobs in the U.S., at least 25% will require an associate’s degree (Carnevale et al., 2011; Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2010). This represents the largest proportion of any of the five STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) occupational subgroups requiring an associate’s degree in the U.S.

Postsecondary institutions in the U.S. that award associate’s degrees in engineering and engineering technologies will fail to meet job growth projections if trends of low and slow graduation rates continue. Comparing the 2000–2001 and 2010–2011 academic years, engineering and engineering technologies associate’s degree conferrals declined by 16% while other subject areas doubled their number of associate’s degree recipients (Aud, Rathburn, Flicker-Wilkinson, Krisapovich, Wang, & Zhang, 2013). Even more drastic was the overall drop in the number of female graduates from engineering and engineering technologies programmess (25.3%) (Planty, Hussar, Snyder, Kena, KewalRamani, Kemp, Bianco, & Dinkes, 2009). There is clearly a need to understand more comprehensively the issue of low completion rates in engineering and engineering technologies programmes.

Data on STEM education and the engineering workforce are often presented too broadly to positively affect reform and acute employment deficits (Hagedorn & Purnamasari, 2012). Hagedorn and Purnamasari (2012) maintained that what is missing from previous scientific attempts is a disaggregation of student background information following the identification of specific STEM-occupational shortages. The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of attendees and graduates of 2-year, associate’s degree programmes in engineering and engineering technologies using a national dataset and determine whether and to what extent graduation from these programs is a function of specific student-related variables and institutional variables. The following research questions were pursued: (1) What are the characteristics of completers and non-completers of sub-baccalaureate degree programs in engineering and engineering technologies? (2) To what extent do student-related and institutional variables predict completion in sub-baccalaureate degree programs in engineering and engineering technologies? Implications are given to policymakers and administrators of U.S. programmes and advisement to European countries, namely the UK, facing the same problem of skills and workforce shortages in engineering and engineering technologies. 

The theoretical framework for the study is rooted in Vincent Tinto’s seminal theory of student integration and organized according to Alexander Astin’s “Input-Environment-Outcome” (I-E-O) Model. Tinto (1993) described completion and attrition as a longitudinal decision-making process influenced by student’s demographic and pre-college attributes, finances, goals and commitments, institutional experiences, and integration (Tinto, 1993). Astin’s Input-Environment-Output (IEO) Model was modified into a conceptual framework examining the key student-related and institutional factors identified by Tinto (1993) on the Output of programme completion.

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