The number of male students enrolled at the College of The Bahamas (COB) has for years paled in comparison to female enrollees and according to COB President Betsy Vogel-Boze, this year’s numbers aren’t any different.
Mrs. Vogel-Boze said the country’s main tertiary institution has always had more female applicants and students than males.
But the president said although the balance between male and female students is often uneven with more women taking up the challenge to further their education, it is a challenge the college has decided to address head on.
“It is a problem in The Bahamas,” she said. “It’s about two to one graduating from high school, women to men, and our entry usually reflects that pretty accurately.
“By the time they graduate we’re more at three to one. So we’re at 60 per cent women, sometimes higher.”
Mrs. Vogel-Boze said while she cannot speak just yet for the new crop of COB students, she does not suspect much has changed with the numbers.
From their end, though, she added that the college is putting some wheels in motion to attract more men to higher learning.
“We’re certainly working with our education students, we’re encouraging more men to go into teaching,” she added. “And we’re looking at majors that will attract men. English is one that most people wouldn’t think about that is predominately males, music is one that attracts a lot of men as well and certainly the engineering programmes that are traditionally male.”
While on the Oakes Field campus The Journal encountered some freshman male students like accountant major Antoine Albury and criminal justice major Kadeesh Dean who seemed pretty excited to get the semester started.
“COB is such a great school and they set the foundation for us to go abroad,” Antoine said. “I want to go off after this and I think this is a good place to get a great start. I hope to finish my first semester with a 4.0 grade point average. The education it gives you will give you the tools to succeed in life.”
“I am extremely excited,” Kadeesh added. “This is something new for me, something new for everyone. I am excited to begin my time here and finally get some movement going in criminal justice. I am very excited to start COB.”
Also on campus were two female students from Grand Bahama, who both began their studies at COB’s northern campus in Freeport.
They said while not new to college life, they are now trying to adjust to a new, bigger campus.
“It’s a lot bigger than the campus in Freeport,” said second year psychology major Yamease Swain. “But so far I like it. It’s a lot to get used to, but I like it and everyone here is really helpful.”
Mrs. Vogel-Boze added that about 1,800 new students will begin COB this fall.
The college is hosting a weeklong of activities for the new students which began on Sunday with an orientation for the parents.
