Postgraduate science & technology education in Nigeria : a gender perspective

Abstract EN

Science and Technology (S&T) are the driving force behind industrialization and has become a critical factor for national development.

The potential contribution of women in S&T has been and is still undervalued and under utilized.

Women are almost entirely marginalized in science and technology development and transfer.

Previous research has shown that more males are attracted to S&T careers relative to females globally.

This paper presents the result of a survey conducted in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, on the enrollment and graduation of female S&T graduates in Nigeria.

Purposive sampling technique was used to select 2110 respondents with 81% response rate Information was elicited from postgraduate (PG) students and S&T based departments and faculties in S&T based tertiary and Research Institutions using questionnaire and personal interview.

The results showed that in science courses, the percentage of female PG students enrolled ranged between 10% and 41% while that of engineering female students was between 10.9% and 33.3%.

The percentage of female PG students graduating in engineering courses decreased over the years.

This suggests that some of the female PG students abandon their program midstream.

It should be noted that many of the female PG students embark on a PG program but discontinue with the program either due to employment or domestic responsibilities.

This paper concludes that it is essential to design and implement policies that will encourage the advancement of Nigerian women in postgraduate studies and careers.