To promote equal opportunities for women and men in a changing economy . Recipe n.31 Reforming A Computer Science And Engineering Degree Programme, 1994 What At the Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, a reform of the Master's degree programme in Computer Science And Engineering was started to make it more attractive to female students. Women's demands on engineering education were identified and used as a starting point, together with a clear and more concious identification of the competence which is needed for completing one's engineering studies successfully. How much The Swedish Government has provided substantial financial support to the project through its Council for the Renewal of Undergraduate Education. The project is one out of five supported projects in order to bring more women into engineering and the natural sciences. How The two starting points were the analysis of the women's demands on (engineering) education and of the existing educational system and the identification of the competence which an engineering student needs to develop. Competence goals and a strategy to achieve them have been formulated, also foreseeing the testing of these specific abilities throughout the education. Previously, the programme was very formal and engineering-centered and students did not have the opportunity for free choice of elective courses or direction until the fourth year. Now, greater freedom of choice and the integration of subjcts have been introduced and a more holistic view has been opened up. There have also been changes as far as the recruitments are concerned. E.g., there are written information brochures, student fairs and special weekend courses arranged for girls who are graduating from upper secondary school. They visit the university, experience the environment there, get to know computers and have the possibility to talk to other students. Why The number of female engineers and students in computer science and engineering is very low, even lower than in other scientific and engineering disciplines. Every year, the Chalmers University accepts about 1000 students to the programme - and during the years before the reform, only 6% of the new students were women. But in contrast to these figures, IT is playing an increasingly important role in our society and has a huge influence on all its aspects. Women, as well as men, have to engage themselves in this process and help developing those technologies for the future. The business needs female personality and female competences to meet the challenges of the market. Results When the results of the reform were set into action in 1995, there was an immediate increase of the number of women accepted to the programme. The interest in the programme has grown enormously and the proportion of girls has risen from 6% to 16%, an increase of 170%. References for further informazion: Bertil Svensson, Department of Computer Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg