VigyanShaala International
Organization Details
At VigyanShaala, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to create a better world through science. We are Scientists, Engineers and Technologists from leading global universities on a mission to create equity in STEM education and opportunities for women across India. Our flagship program Kalpana: She for STEM is an online mentoring-career coaching fellowship designed to successfully place every fellow on a high confidence STEM path. Our state-of-the-art mentoring curriculum is designed and delivered by global STEM professionals in active partnership with the mentees.
Impact Story
The backbone of our world is built on science, technology, engineering, and math. In India, despite having 48.8% of women in STEM at undergraduate levels women make up fewer than 15% of the STEM workforce. Two out of three girls who study STEM don’t make it to the STEM workforce. This is a huge lost economic opportunity as more than 80% of future jobs will require advanced STEM skills. (https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023/digest/). Further, a strong foundation in STEM is essential to India’s productivity, innovation, and economic success.
Our program Kalpana is an online mentoring-career coaching fellowship designed to successfully place every fellow on a high confidence STEM path. It helps enhance the retention of women in STEM Careers by facilitating direct interactions with role models, building support systems, career road mapping with expert mentoring, and providing knowledge about STEM careers.
In the three years since inception, we have reached 6000+ girls, from 22 Indian states supported by 250+ global mentors nurturing them towards STEM careers. Fellows in the program reported significant increase in their short- and long-term career clarity and readiness for future STEM careers. During the impact analysis of 3 cohorts, a sample of 576 girls showed a 3-point increase (on scale of 10) in their Career and Vision Clarity before and after the program and a 3.5 -point increase on their Career Readiness. These attributes demonstrate greater confidence in self-assessed STEM competencies and networking abilities. For 83% of the respondents, it was their first interaction with a STEM role model and 97% of them found these interactions inspiring.
Diverse Social Enterprise
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