A QUARTER of Scottish college courses are struggling to meet tough new targets on gender balance.
Five out of 18 subject areas are currently missing the requirement to have at least 25 per cent of students either male or female.
Although institutions will not be expected to meet the Scottish Government target until 2030, new figures show just how far some subjects have to go.
Read more: Ministers criticised over drop in number of full-time college places
More than 96 per cent of those enrolled in nautical studies are male while the same applies for 93 per cent of construction students and 92 per cent of engineering places.
At the other end of the spectrum 95 per cent of hairdressing and beauty students are female. More than 77 per cent of those studying care-related subjects are also female.
Overall, there is a growing gender balance in further education with 49 per cent of students now male after a sharp decline in the number of female part-time students.
Angela Alexander, women’s officer for student body NUS Scotland, said colleges needed to do more to address “extreme gender imbalances” in some courses.
She added: “The disparities require action from an early stage to ensure much greater diversity and tackle the continued stereotypes and structures that contribute to that imbalance.
Read more: Ministers criticised over drop in number of full-time college places
“There is no reason why, in a modern, inclusive world, we continue to see harmful gender stereotypes played out in our lecture theatres.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), which published the figures, praised the overall figures, but said there was “clearly still a lot to do”.
He added: “Colleges are working very hard through initiatives such as working with school pupils to challenge career stereotypes.”
The SFC said it would continue to monitor annual progress in college gender balance.
Shona Struthers, chief executive of Colleges Scotland, said: “We are pleased there has been an overall improvement in gender balance, but we do recognise there is more work to be done to close the gender gap in some subjects.”
“Colleges are working with the SFC and others to increase the diversity of the student body on key courses.”
Overall, the figures show a slight increase in college students in 2015/16 after a decline since 2007 with numbers falling more than 150,000 from 379,000 to 227,000.
Monica Lennon, Labour’s inequalities spokeswoman, said: “That is 150,000 missed opportunities.”
Read more: Ministers criticised over drop in number of full-time college places
Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, added: “Colleges play a pivotal role so it’s deeply concerning student numbers have dropped to this level.”
The Scottish Government highlighted the fact the number of students completing a higher education qualification at college is at an all-time high - although overall drop-out rates slipped slightly after a decade of improvement.
Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Minister for Further Education, said: “I am extremely pleased to see increases in the number of full-time students successfully completing recognised qualifications and that more than 90 per cent of students are satisfied.”
She added: “This shows that college students are not only gaining the valuable skills and education they need for gainful employment, but that they are learning in the right environment for them.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel