Women’s Completion and Graduation at MNU

The Maldives National University (MNU) monitors whether women’s high participation in higher education turns into successful completion. Every year, the University records graduates by sex and faculty, and publishes the figures in its Annual Report. It also compares women’s graduation with men’s, to identify fields where women may need more support to complete.

What we track

• Enrolment and graduates by sex, faculty and level of study
• Women’s graduation compared with men’s, overall and by faculty
• Trends over time, published each year in the MNU Annual Report (graduation statistics by faculty and sex since 2022)

Women’s graduation compared with men’s

Between 2021 and 2025, women made up 72.8% of students enrolled in long-term courses (23,201 of 31,876 enrolment records). In 2025, women were 76.1% of graduates (1,376 of 1,808).

To compare completion, MNU looks at the number of graduates for every 100 enrolled students of each sex. In 2025, there were 30.8 women graduates for every 100 women enrolled, compared with 25.9 per 100 men. Overall, women graduate at a higher rate than men.

The same measure shows one field where women are behind. In the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Technology, women graduated at a lower rate than men in both 2024 and 2025. They are also a smaller share of graduates (22.6%) than of students (29.0%).

Graduates in the year divided by students enrolled in long-term courses in the same year. MNU Annual Report 2025, pp. 72 and 84.

Women graduates by faculty, 2025

Source: MNU Annual Report 2025, p. 84.

Closing the gap in STEM

MNU’s response to the engineering, science and technology gap includes:

• Bringing more women into the field: outreach to girls and young women in maritime, robotics and technology (see Women in Under-represented Subjects).
• Women role models: women academics leading MNU’s technology outreach.
• Policy commitment: the Policy on Women’s Access, Participation and Advancement (October 2026) now requires MNU to monitor women’s retention, progression and graduation (Section 7) and to maintain gender-disaggregated data (Section 13). Fields where women are under-represented are flagged for support under Section 6.

Support for all students to complete

• Academic and pastoral support: academic advising, tutoring, skills support and writing help, under the Academic and Pastoral Support Policy.
• Flexible study: leave of absence, special assessment provisions and flexible learning for students facing personal or family challenges, including pregnancy and parenthood (see Maternity Policy).
• Mentoring: named mentors for every nursing and medical student, reaching 1,562 women in 2025 (see Women’s Mentoring Schemes).

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