THE University of the West Indies, Mona, has seen a two per cent increase in male enrolment at the campus for the 2010/2011 academic year compared to 2008/2009.

It is a statistic — published in UWI’s annual report for 2010-2011 — that the institution hopes will prove prophetic in correcting the years-old imbalance between the number of females and males attending the university.

It puts the current male to female distribution on the campus at 30 per cent to 70 per cent, up from some 20 per cent to 80 per cent a few years earlier.

“The UWI, Mona campus is cognisant of the under-representation of males within the student population. To help counter this imbalance, new programmes were introduced in the sciences, cultural studies and management studies, the hope being in part to attract more male applicants,” reads a section of the report.

Among the new suite of undergraduate programmes introduced in 2010/2011 are:

* Bachelor of Arts in Journalism

* Bachelor of Science in Tropical Horticulture;

* Doctor of Dental Surgery Dentistry;

* Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering; and

* a Bachelor Science in Corporate Governance and Business Ethics.

At the postgraduate level, the institution has introduced:

* Master of Science in Family Medicine;

* Master of Science in Medical Physics;

* a Doctor of Medicine in Haemotology/Oncology;

* a Master of Science in Applied Pharmacology; and

* a Diploma in Family Medicine.

Meanwhile, UWI registration data reveals there has been an increase in the number of males across most faculties in recent years. In the Faculty of Humanities and Education, for example, there were 658 males enrolled for the 2009/2010 academic year, up from 568 in 2008/2009. For the Social Sciences, there were 1,680 enrolled in 2009/2010, up from 1,584 in 2008/2009.

In Pure and Applied Sciences, 1,109 males were enrolled in 2009/2010 compared to 988 in the 2008/2009 academic year and 938 in 2007/2008. The Medical Sciences also saw a growth in numbers from 529 in 2008/2009 to 560 in 2009/2010.

Career & Education was unable to get an official comment from the university administration up to press time, but Guild of Students president Stephanie Abrahams said: “It’s good that more males are choosing to advance themselves.”

At the same time, she credited the university’s own efforts, at least in part, for the growth in numbers, which come to 4,373 for the 2010/2011 academic year, up from 4,025 in 2008/2009.

“There has been marketing targeted to males,” Abrahams said.

Other students echoed Abrahams’ sentiments on the growing number of males at the institution.

“It’s good to know that more men are coming to UWI to get educated. I chose to come here because university was the next step in my life and I am proud they have made that step as well,” said Reneece Francis of the Faculty of Humanities and Education.

Melaine Warren, also of Humanities and Education, had a similar take on the numbers.

“It’s nice to see more males taking school seriously because men don’t normally like to be confined to the classrooms,” she said.

Jason Walters from the Faculty of Social Sciences noted: “I chose to come to UWI because it is the best place to get my degree.”

“It is also a great environment to socialise and my father works here, so I would get a reduction in my school fee,” he told Career & Education.

“I chose UWI because it is my decision to advocate on behalf of others and I believe a legal career affords me the opportunity to do such at the highest levels,” added Andre Marriot-Blake of the Faculty of Law.

Mikail Samuels of the Faculty of Humanities, for his part, said there is still a way to go.

“The females still dominate and are [still] the majority of the population,” he said, noting correctly that the two per cent increase does not reflect “a significant growth in the male population at UWI”.