Equity in Access: Mind the Gender Gap

Despite all good intentions, gaps in access to higher education opportunities remain persistent. This issue is addressed in EAIE Forum magazine’s Spring 2015 edition.
The issue features an article by EP-Nuffic’s senior programme administrators Miriam Langeveld and Hélène Bernot Ullerö about the gender gap among academic staff at universities in the South.
More scholarships for women
To close the gap, the authors argue that EP-Nuffic capacity building projects should allocate 70 to 100% of their scholarships for postgraduate studies to women over a number of years. Some projects, however, allocate 50%, while most follow the (less ambitious) national policies of the partner countries, with targets of between 20 and 30%. At such a rate the gender gap will not be closed in the foreseeable future.
Innovative approach
The authors note that many projects struggle to do more than raising awareness, although there are some examples of innovative approaches.
One such example, described by Langeveld and Bernot Ullerö in their article, is the clever approach used by the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment at Gulu University, Northern Uganda, to attract more young women to agricultural studies.

Read the article in Forum Magazine (2.0 MB)

Read the article in French (598.1 KB). More...