For the first time ever, more women than men received a PhD last academic year in the Netherlands. At the UG, however, this was true the year before that, too.
Nationally, 2,612 women and 2,607 men earned their doctorate last year. At the UG, it was 347 women and 293 men, as the university proudly tweeted. A year earlier, the difference was also clear, with 314 women and 277 men.
Professors
But while an increasing number of women are starting their academic careers, the distribution higher up the career ladder still favour men. In late 2020, a national milestone was reached when a quarter of all professors were female.
Here, the UG is doing better than average as well. During that same year, the number of female professors increased from 23.1 percent to 26.4 percent, making the university one of the biggest risers in the ranks. The other was the Erasmus University Rotterdam, with an increase of 3.5 percent.
Ambition
While 25 percent was a milestone, the Dutch Network of Women Professors still has the ambition of at least 30 percent of professors being female in the whole country. Right now, four out of fourteen Dutch universities have reached that percentage. The UG wants to take it a step further and make sure that 33 percent of professors they employ are female.