387 48th Annual Conference, Enschede, the Netherlands RESEARCH PAPERS UNDERSTANDING ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ MATHEMATICS PROFICIENCIES: A STEP TOWARDS SUPPORTING DIVERSITY P Padayachee, AL Campbell 1 , K Ramesh-Kanjee University of Cape Town Cape Town, South Africa Conference Key Areas: Mathematics in the engineering curriculum. Diversity and inclusiveness. Keywords: mathematical proficiency, calculus, assessment, engineering students, diversity ABSTRACT The economic demand for engineering graduates in South Africa coupled with low throughput in engineering degree programs have highlighted mathematics proficiency as a challenge. As engineering classes become more diverse, uneven mathematics preparation compounds the challenges facing engineering educators. During an engineering module, lecturers and students may come to realise that there is a mismatch between the expected and current mathematical proficiencies needed to engage with the disciplinary content. However, developing the required mathematical proficiencies within disciplines in addition to a full workload may overload students, and lead to failure. Starting with an understanding of the mathematical background of a cohort of students and sharing mathematical proficiency data with engineering lecturers soon after registration can help with planning interventions to develop specific skills needed for students to succeed in particular courses. This quantitative research profiles the mathematical proficiencies of engineering students at a South African university and poses the questions: Based on pre- university assessments and final grades for a series of three semester-courses in calculus, what mathematical proficiency profiles can be identified? Are the profiles different for other demographic factors? We present an analysis of engineering students at a South African university that includes variables such as gender and grades for three university calculus courses, final school mathematics examinations, and National Benchmark Tests and their mathematics subdomain analysis. We suggest directions for further qualitative research to support the design of suitable interventions for diverse engineering classes. 1 Corresponding Author A L Campbell anita.campbell@uct.ac.za