Girls corner 68% of 881 postgraduate seats, Goa tops in country

PANAJI: Until a decade and a half ago, Goa’s female enrolment rate for postgraduate course studies at the Goa University (GU) stood at a paltry 40%. Since then, however, there has been quite a surge and today, the female enrolment rate stands at well over 60%
For the 2017-18 academic year, nearly 68% of the students admitted to the university’s postgraduate programmes were women. Of the 881 postgraduate seats on offer, women were admitted to 599 seats. This is indicative of the continuing surge in the number of females pursuing higher education in the state.

The number of male candidates admitted to course exceeded that of females in only nine of the 33 post graduate programmes. These include French, Portuguese, international studies, electronics, integrated MBA, MCA and earth sciences.

Interestingly, programmes in which a higher number of women were admitted, the number of females far exceeded their male counterparts. For instance, 35 females were admitted to the MA (History) course as against only five males. Similarly, 65 females were admitted to the MSc (Chemistry) programme as compared to just 15 males.

According to the 2010-11 University Grants Commission report on women in higher education in India, Goa overtook Kerala as the state with the highest percentage of female enrolment in higher education in the country. Goa’s figure stood at 61.2%. This percentage has only shown an upward surge. The national average of female enrolment is only 41.5%.

Kerala also has a high female enrolment rate. Goa, however, has not just sustained its figures, but bettered them year on year with a growing number of females enrolling in professional and non-professional courses.