Examining Gender in Higher Education (EGHE): STEM and beyond. A UK-African Countries Network
This network ran as a funded project from January 2017 to September 2018, drawing together academics and activists to share and build knowledge and expertise on key areas of concern in gender and higher education (HE) comparatively across a range of African countries as well as the UK; and to build the foundations for sustained research that will address key issues of pressing concern in the field. One key area of concern was identified as an initial focus: participation and success of women students in STEM subjects. This is a crucial focus area in relation to the goals of gender equality and social justice, and directly supports key priorities of network member countries in terms of economic and infrastructural development.
The network’s initiatives have been inherently international in nature, addressing an issue of key concern in relation to all network member countries in Africa and in the UK, and bringing together academics and activists in the field of gender, higher education and STEM from the countries concerned to share and generate knowledge. The network member countries comprised: Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, The Gambia, and the UK. There was an international spread of investigators and research partners across these countries, and the network included the involvement of the prominent pan-African NGO, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). FAWE are headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, but have active involvement in gender and education issues (including HE, and STEM) across 33 countries in the continent.
Network activities included the undertaking of two scoping exercises designed to map and synthesise existing knowledge in relation to a) gender and STEM in HE across network member countries, and b) key further areas of concern, in order to support the development of further collaborations such larger research bids, and to generate useful knowledge to share with international policy makers and practitioners.
The knowledge shared and generated during this funded phase of the network have been disseminated in ways designed to be accessible to an international academic and non-academic audience. This included a network event at FAWE's triennial general meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, August 2017; two policy briefings focusing on gender and STEM issues in HE and gender and HE more broadly; and an accessible website that hosts a short film about the network – please see the project website for more details.
PI and Co-Is - International Collaborators
PI: Dr Barbara Read, University of Glasgow, School of Education
Co-Is:
Ms Hendrina Doroba, Executive Director, Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Nairobi, Kenya
Dr Marguerite Khakasa Miheso-O’Connor, School of Education, Kenyatta University, Kenya and FAWE
Dr Euzobia Baine Mugisha, Acting Director of the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate, Makerere University, Uganda
Dr Josephine Munthali, FAWE
Ms Isatou Ndow, Vice Principal, The Gambia College, The Gambia
Prof Michele Schweisfurth, University of Glasgow, School of Education
Prof Elizabeth Tanner, School of Engineering, University of Glasgow
Note: Professor Tanner has now moved to a position at Brunel University.
Ms Jane Umutoni, Centre for Gender Studies, University of Rwanda
Start and End Date
January 2017 to September 2018
Funder and Funding Amount
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/P007228/1) Award amount: £81,141
Related Publications
Munthali, J. (2017) Mapping Out Key Pressing Current Issues and Knowledge Gaps in Access, Participation and Challenges of Gender and Higher Education in Multiple African Contexts, pp.1381-1387 in ICERI 2017 Proceedings of the 10th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation in Seville, Spain, 16th-18th November 2017. Doi: 10.21125/iceri.2017.
EGHE Network (2018) Gendered Patterns of HE Participation and Success: Initial Findings of the EGHE Network for Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, The Gambia and the UK, Policy Briefing 1 (Glasgow, University of Glasgow).
EGHE Network (2018) Participating and Succeeding in STEM subjects: a focus on Gender Dynamics, Policy Briefing 2 (Glasgow, University of Glasgow).
Project News
The team presented initial findings from the project at FAWE’s Conference on Girls’ Education in Africa, Forum for African Women Educationalists, Lusaka, Zambia, 23-25th August 2017.
http://www.eghe.org/conferencesevents/faweconferenceongirlseducationinafrica/
Dr Josephine Munthali presented a paper, Mapping Out Key Pressing Current Issues and Knowledge Gaps in Access, Participation and Challenges of Gender and Higher Education in Multiple African Contexts, at the International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation in Seville, Spain, 16th-18th November 2017.
http://www.eghe.org/conferencesevents/iceri17conferenceofeducationresearchandinnovation/
Network members presented papers on project findings in a Network Symposium entitled ‘Exploring Gendered Patterns of HE Participation and Success in STEM and Beyond’ at the Comparative Education Society (Europe) Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus, May 29th-Jun 1st, 2018.
https://www.cese-europe.org/2018
