Netherlands / Fewer boys are grading

A generation ago men in higher education outnumbered women. Now the opposite is true. What happened? asks Jos Claessen.

In the school year 2010/2011, 123,894 students attained a higher education degree (a higher vocational education bachelor or an academic bachelor or master). But this imposing figure hides a worrying imbalance between male and female graduates which should give us pause for thought.

Of this number, 44% was male while women made up the majority with 56%. A discrepancy of this size is astounding. Only a generation ago men outnumbered women in higher education. In 2013 it’s the men who are lagging behind. Why?

Administrators and politicians are becoming increasingly aware that a transformation is taking place. In 2011, former education minister Marja van Bijsterveld shrugged off what she perceived to be a minor drop in school performance by boys. Her successor Jet Bussemaker, however, wonders in her Emancipation policy outline if the ‘success of the girls’ comes with a ‘problem for the boys’.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor

via DutchNews.nl – Columns: Fewer boys are making the grade.