Promoting Affirmative Action in Higher Education: A Case Study of the University for Development Studies Bridging Programme

Abstract

Despite various campaigns for gender equity through affirmative action programmes, there still remains the challenge of bridging the gender gap in education, especially at the tertiary level. In view of the idea that mainstream literature has much to offer on advocacy issues on affirmative action for gender equity in education rather than reports on progress, this paper contributes to filing this gap by presenting a descriptive coverage of practical application of the concept of affirmative action by a case study report on the University for Development Studies’ Bridging Programme for girls. Methodologically, this paper is an outcome of both descriptive and applied research methods, in the sense that it describes the implementation process of the gender gap bridging programme for university admissions through a female centered approach by the University for Development Studies, by adopting existing research methodological procedures such as interview and review of secondary data. The findings were also presented using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The major findings indicate that before the implementation of the affirmative action measures in the university, there was a very wide gap between the male and female student populations in favour of males, but after the bridging programme, there was a reduction in the gender gap. It was also observed that though female beneficiaries came in with weak academic backgrounds; usually from poorer households and/or deprived rural areas, they competed favorably with those who were admitted with the normal admission requirements once mainstreamed into the system.  The paper concludes that affirmative action is an important tool for bridging the gender gap in education, and recommended that the local government should support affirmative action programmes such as that of the University for Development Studies by sponsoring needy female students to benefit from the programme.

KEYWORDS: Affirmative Action, Gender Parity, Enrolment, Gender equality.