FAIRBANKS, Alaska
The University of Alaska’s gender gap ranks second in the nation, according to findings prepared by a Fairbanks professor and presented to UA Regents. Women make up 61 percent of enrollment on the university’s 16 campuses statewide, and the gap widens when it comes to the number of women compared with men who complete degree programs.
Judith Kleinfeld, director of northern studies at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, conducted the study. She said women nationwide outnumber men pursuing higher education.
UA ranks second in the nation in the divide between the number of women who receive bachelor’s degrees compared with men; the gap is wider at the certificate and associate program levels.
Nationally men account for less than 44 percent of college enrollment.
A long-standing focus at UA is to educate a work force to meet Alaska’s needs; in rural Alaska especially, the need is for teachers and health-care professionals — fields that traditionally have attracted more women.
“It means we need to pay more attention to the guys,” Kleinfeld told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
