In the House of Commons Chamber,  Michael Fabricant praised the work of universities who “go out of their way” to attract women into engineering courses.

Michael asked : “On National Numeracy Day, will my Rt Hon Friend, the Science Minister, take this opportunity to praise the work of universities like the University of Birmingham, Imperial College London, and Loughborough University, who all go out of their way to attract women into engineering courses?”

The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, Andrew Griffith replied: “We are enormously blessed in this country with the quality of our universities. So many of whom, together with the firms that sponsor undergraduate and postgraduate research, are making magnificent efforts in the important area of diversity in STEM.”

Michael now adds:  “Staffordshire University too – and many others – no longer see Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics as being the province of men and boys and actively seek female students in those academic areas.  I am reminded that long before she became a politician, Margaret Thatcher had studied chemistry at university and then worked in a polymer research laboratory. In later life she said she was prouder of becoming the first prime minister with a science degree than becoming the first female prime minister.”