ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1611178
STEM Career: Essential Factors for Students to Achieve Success in STEM (supportive individuals, skills/abilities, motivational factors)
Provisionally accepted
- University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
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In Romania, where STEM enrollment stands at 26% of tertiary students compared to the EU average of 32%, understanding the factors that sustain student engagement is critical. This mixed-methods study examines motivations, well-being, and gender stereotypes shaping STEM success among 548 students at a technical university from Bucharest. Through literature review, questionnaires, and interviews, analyzed via inferential statistics and thematic coding, findings reveal that intrinsic motivation (34.74%) and career opportunities (36.16%) drive major choices, 71.39% associate STEM engagement with enhanced well-being, and 42.8% perceive gender stereotypes, with girls reporting greater impact. Triangulated data highlight the need for mentorship, digital resources, and inclusive policies to support Romania's STEM aspirations. Limited to one institution, this study offers insights for educators and policymakers to foster equitable STEM education.
Keywords: STEM success, Motivation, Well-being, Gender stereotypes, Romanian education
Received: 13 Apr 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dogaru, Negreanu, Pisică and Pîrvu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mariana Dogaru, University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
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