The IT Gender Gap: Experience, Motivation and Differences in Undergraduate Studies of Computer Science

This paper reports on progress and conclusions of two-year research of gender issues in studying computer science at Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Faculty of Science, University of Novi Sad. Using statistics on data gathered by a survey, the work presented here focused on identifying, understanding, and correlating both female and male students' performance, professional motivation, ambition, confidence level and attitudes towards differences, learning quality and nature of the field. Results show agreement with theoretical predictions and significant improvement over previous efforts; providing profound implications for future studies of gender-sensitive IT education in the region and beyond. (Contains 11 tables.)