Supporting Women’s Access and Success in STEM at MNU

Women are the majority of MNU’s students (72.8% in 2025), but they remain under-represented in engineering, science, technology and maritime studies:

• Faculty of Engineering, Science and Technology: women were 29.0% of students and 22.6% of graduates (MNU Annual Report 2025).
• Engineering programmes: women were 13.2% of applicants and 7.6% of students (SAS records).
• Centre for Maritime Studies: all 8 students enrolled in long-term courses were men.

Section 6 of the Policy on Women’s Access, Participation and Advancement commits MNU to identifying fields where women are under-represented and supporting their participation.

Outreach to girls and young women in 2025

• Empowering Women in the Maritime Industry (17 April 2025). This Ilmee Foavahi forum, attended by 80 students, staff and members of the public, set out opportunities and pathways for women in the maritime sector.
• Empowering Disabled Female Students to Lead Digital Entrepreneurship (Theveli 2025, 18–20 August). A post-conference workshop with 10 women participants on women’s leadership in digital enterprise.
• EduTech Symposium STEM showcases (17–18 September 2025). School students from Meemu, Dhiffushi, Keyodhoo and Kondey presented hands-on STEM projects to about 150 educators and students. The projects included a flood alarm system, a smart fish storage monitor and award-winning micro-technology projects. More than half of the participating school students were girls.
• Robotics and coding in island schools. Senior Lecturer Dr Aminath Waseela led a Micro:bit workshop on tidal and flood detection for M. Atoll School students (22–23 July 2025). The students later presented their flood alarm system at the EduTech Symposium. Assistant Professor Dr Fathimath Shougee ran robotics-in-education workshops for teachers at L. Ihadhoo and K. Dhiffushi schools.
• Marine science students visit the Centre for Maritime Studies : 18 marine science students from Imaduddin School took part in interactive sessions on maritime operations and navigation aids. 
• Electronics session for Addu High School students. Hithadhoo Campus gave 20 students hands-on electronics learning in a university setting.
• Student hackathons. The Faculty of Engineering, Science and Technology ran two hackathons in 2025, and girls took part in both. In the Robotics Hackathon (28–29 May), 28 students designed, built and programmed robots; 10 of them (35.7%) were girls. In the E-Waste Hackathon (4–7 October), 23 students worked with 8 industry mentors to develop technology solutions for electronic waste. Girls made up the majority of participants: 14 of the 23 (60.9%).
• STEM career talks. The Fahi Musthagbal Speaker Series brought engineering and technology careers to students and the public:
  • Managing Change: Engineering a Life? with engineer and renewable energy advocate Dr Ibrahim Nashid (8 September 2025, 88 attendees, 47 of them students)
  • Succeeding in the Era of AI with AI researcher Dr Azzam Naeem (11 September 2025, 83 attendees, 37 of them students)

  The talks were open to all MNU students, 73% of whom are women.

Women role models in STEM

Women academics lead much of MNU’s technology outreach. Dr Aminath Waseela served as a panellist at ICEST2025, MNU’s international conference on engineering, science and technology. She also contributed to the EduTech Symposium robotics workshop.

Through tracking and outreach together, MNU aims to increase women’s applications, enrolment and graduation in STEM, and to support their progression into professional and leadership roles.