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European Journal of Educational Studies 2(3), 2010Table 2 bellow illustrates the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) first year students‟ enrolment of2000/2001 illustrating the difference in enrolment on application of preferential admission criteria (PAC)Table 2: Enrolment of first year 2000/2001 University of Dar es SalaamProgrammeTotaladmittedTotalfemaleadmittedFemaleadmissionsame criteriaFemaleadmissionafter PAC% Femaleadmissionwith samecriteria% FemaletotaladmissionB.Com. 273 45 45 Not used 16 16Engineering 405 23 11 12 3 6Medicine 132 33 22 11 17 25Dentistry 14 0 0 Not used 0 0Pharmacy 26 12 12 Not used 46 46PESC 25 13 1 12 4 52Nursing 23 13 3 10 13 57Sciences 382 87 44 43 12 23Total 1280 226 138 88 15 18Source: Admissions Office, University of Dar es Salaam, 2003.RESULTSTable 1 clearly shows that there has been a serious gender disparity in female students‟ enrolment inscience and engineering disciplines at the University of Dar es Salaam. Of all the science and engineeringcourses at the University of Dar es Salaam, only Pharmacy had female enrolment rate of slightly close to40% in the year 2005/2006. This enrolment is analogous to what takes place in other universities inTanzaniaTable 2 shows the University of Dar es Salaam‟s first year students‟ enrolment of the year 2000/2001. Itillustrates the variations in PAC application. Female enrolments in all the science discipline were under50% with the only exception being in Nursing with 57%.278
European Journal of Educational Studies 2(3), 2010PROGRESS, PROBLEMS AND FUTURE TRENDSThe findings have revealed the consistently lower rate of enrolment of females in science and engineeringdisciplines in the University of Dar es Salaam. Despite the remarkable recent progress in female enrolmentand performance owing to positive actions and sensitization campaigns, gender disparities still exist and arequite striking in some disciplines.Indeed some possible reasons for the low female science admission at the University of Dar es Salaamrevealed in table 1 and 2 are suggested below. First, the admission criteria, or standards, by which so manysecondary school test takers are weeded out, may simply be too much high, given the realities of poorlypaid and unmotivated teachers plus inadequate teaching and learning facilities in many secondary schoolsin Tanzania, especially public secondary schools.Additionally, the findings here have revealed that the education plans of action have led to significantimprovement in female‟s science enrolment at the University of Dar es Salaam, although male students stilloutnumber female enrolment. It also agrees with the observation of Morley (1997) that there is need tostrategize and create equality in higher education between male and females.Despite the positive efforts of gender-sensitive policies, factors that limit female‟s enrolment in sciencediscipline at the University of Dar es Salaam seem to bring a greater impact on gendered access thanfactors that facilitate it. Bookie Kethugisile, et al. (2000) indicates that social-economic and cultural factorswhich inhibit girls‟ access to education in primary and secondary levels effectively cut off their access totertiary education.Indeed Masanja (2001) reports that in 2000/2001 admissions, very few females qualified for admission intothe engineering and science programmes in University of Dar es Salaam even after the lowering of cut offpoints. Thus, in Africa, based on misconception, women students tend not to enroll in fields of science,Technology, Engineering (Rathgeber, 1995).Further still, the findings show that the much expected 50-50 enrolment between males and females inscience courses is still a challenge. This may be a result of several factors that affect girls‟ enrolment inscience subjects during the lower levels of education. It can also be attributed to the social and culturalbehaviour and perception in relation to the field of science as male domain. Mlama (1998; 2001) cites,among many indicators of the unwelcoming sphere of the higher education characterized by its „maleness‟,sexual harassment, the shortcomings of lecturers whose poor preparation and lack of awareness make itpractically impossible for female students to benefit fully from their learning experience, especially inhitherto male-dominated subjects,in which the few enrolled female students have to endure loneliness and lack of support from fellow malestudents.279
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