Men lose in Higher Education

– It is very regrettable if this is part of a trend that make men into losers at the University, Kristian Meisingset says, who is responsible for academic affairs in the Student Parliament at the University of Oslo (UiO).

The most recent statistics from Database for høyere utdanning (DBH), a statistics database relating to higher education, reveal that men are losing out to women according to the results from autumn 2005. Not only are there fewer men in Uni, but those who turn up achieve poorer results. Men have a higher failure rate compared to women at 43 out of the 49 educational institutions in question.

At UiO, the trend is the same: Women get the best marks. 66.7 per cent scored A, B or C among men, whereas among women the corresponding number was 71.5 per cent. In addition, women fail less compared to men. Last year, 10.6 per cent of male students failed their exams, whereas only 6.9 per cent of women had to resit.

Trend from secondary school

Sociologist Arne Mastekaasa has studied performance variations regarding postgraduates, and he is not surprised that women now perform better than men.

– The findings reflect the situation at lower levels in the educational system, Mastekaasa says, who adds that men used to score higher than women. Earlier this year, the Minister of Education and Research Øystein Djupedal went public with an initiative to fight for the position of boys in the educational system following his knowledge that boys were worse off than girls in secondary school. Kristian Meisingset thinks it is about time.

– The lower levels of the educational system are currently not well-adapted to boys, thus this trend spreads to higher education. It is about time we did one for the boys, Mesingset says.

Take more risks

At UiO, the University of Bergen and the University of Stavanger, marks from A to C are to a larger extent given to girls. More boys than girls are awarded D, E or F. The trend is similar, yet weaker, at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and at the University of Tromsø. At these two institutions, men are awarded with first class marks more often than girls, but they are also more likely to fail.

– A possible explanation to the fact that boys rank the highest on the marking scale, but also fail the most, could be that they are likely to take more risks, Hanne Haavind with the Department of Psychology at UiO says.

Haavind feels that boys are already from an early age more prone to justify their actions by saying they took a chance, whereas girls often perceive their results to be the best they can do.

– Men can therefore be more willing to risk having negative experiences, Haavind says, who thinks there are a lot of men who turn up for their exams unprepared and thinking that they can just resit it if things do not work out.

– This is probably the situation for many women as well. However, the will to risk it is clearly a male trend, she says.

Mastekaasa also feels that it is normal that men more often end up either top of the class, or bottom of the class.

Less focused

Leader of the Norwegian Students' Union (NSU), Jørn Henriksen, believes that men fall behind because they are less focused.

– It is hard to see any reason behind these interesting findings, but men probably spend less time on their studies, Henriksen says.

He disagrees that there is a connection between marks from secondary school and higher education.

– Students often perform a lot better when they enter higher education. So that is difficult to say, Henriksen says, who thinks that marks should primarily be awarded on equal terms, hence it could be wise to look into the matter.

Rector at UiO, Geir Ellingsrud, sees no need for a reaction at the moment.

– The numbers regarding UiO are still not that dramatic, Ellingsrud says.

He is nevertheless worried about the ongoing trend.

– A systematic male underachievement over time is problematic, he says.

Students think that women do better because they are more preoccupied with doing well in all subjects.

– Girls play it safe, whereas boys take their chances, Julie Rongved Amundsen says.

Anette Therese Pettersen feels it has more to do with self-confidence. The boys agree.

– Boys more often have a «Sod it-attitude» compared to girls. Girls won’t get bad marks in any subject, Joar Myhre says.

The students feel that this is a pattern that reflects on other parts of society as well.

– In working life, women often get mediocre positions, whereas men dominate. This is exemplifies that boys are not afraid of taking chances and making an impact, Martin Knobloch Johannessen says.