While the ratio of females in the population of university students in Ghana has increased since 1990, women still remain far in the minority, data available to the B&FT have shown.
The data, gathered from the National Council for Tertiary Education, show that only one-fifth of students enrolled in universities in the 1990/91 academic year were women, but this ratio has improved gradually and stood at 36 percent in the 2012/13 academic year.
Yet despite this progress, the numbers indicate that there are still almost twice as many men as women studying in a university.
The disparity is wider in public universities, where women account for just a third of students, compared to the private sector where women enrolment stands at 43 percent.
In general, enrolment in university has accelerated since the 1990s, when there were only government-owned institutions. According to the data, the number of people enrolled in university – including public and private – stood at 183,687 in 2012/13, with public universities accounting for 70 percent of all students. In 1990/91 there were barely 10,000 people attending university in Ghana.
The small ratio of women in university is against the fact that women make up 52 percent of the population aged 15-49 – the typical period of life a person is likely to be pursuing undergraduate or graduate studies in a university – and it shows how much more needs to be done to retain girls in school up to the highest level they can attain.
The situation is comparatively different in other countries such as the United States, where there are more women enrolled in public universities than men, and in the United Arab Emirates, where 80 percent of university students are female – one of the highest ratios in the world.
The University of Ghana and the University of Professional Studies rank first among public universities in gender parity of enrolment, with women accounting for 43 percent of their students.
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the country’s second-oldest university, has 68 percent of its students being male, while at the University of Mines and Technology, located in Tarkwa, 86 percent of students are men. Trends in these two universities seem to reflect girls’ typical aversion to science programmes.
Women enrolment in the University of Ghana has improved from 23 percent in 1990/91 to its current share, while KNUST has seen an increase from 18 percent to 32 percent between that year and now.
Though not-for-profit campaigners continue to use various initiatives to enhance the education of girls, it may be necessary to consider a quota system within universities in order to boost female enrolment, said Obeng Ofosu, Senior Assistant Registrar at the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra. He said schools should adopt a quota for females whenever they are admitting fresh students.
The situation can also be improved if more girls are encouraged to go to Senior High School and complete that level successfully, he said. In rural areas, where gender disparities tend to be wider than average, there should be a doubling of efforts to ensure that girls receive the necessary support and motivation to complete primary and secondary school successfully, he added.
Female tertiary students who were interviewed by the B&FT expressed the view that determination and self-motivation are also important to enhance women’s participation in school at the highest level, especially in the study of science programmes.
“I chose a science programme because I have the passion for it, and I do not feel odd because it is a men- dominated area. Besides, we already have women in the field and they are doing very well. I see it as pleasure,†said Princess Harriet, a third-year Biomedical Engineering student at the University of Ghana.
“I believe that women can excel in any field as long as they are determined,†she added.
By Benson Afful | B&FT Online | Ghana
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