ÃÜÌÒÊÓÆµ is committed to achieving gender balance across all academic fields, recognizing that true gender equity (SDG 5) requires targeted intervention in subjects where female enrollment is lagging. The College systematically tracks gender representation across its programs, revealing a significant disparity in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) domain. In 2024, the College implemented specific, evidence-based strategies—utilizing both dedicated outreach activities and strategic external collaborations—to actively encourage applications by women in these underrepresented subjects.
The College's systematic tracking of gender-disaggregated enrollment data provides clear insight into the success of female access measures and highlights areas requiring focused intervention. The 2024 graduation data clearly delineates areas of success and areas requiring strategic effort:
High Participation: Female students demonstrate overwhelming participation in the Medicine (Health Sciences) domain, where they account for an exceptional 97%. Similarly, women hold the majority share in Arts & Social Sciences, representing 61% of the students in that domain. These figures affirm the College's success in attracting and enrolling women in socially impactful careers.
Critical Underrepresentation (Focus Area): The analysis reveals a significant disparity in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Across these programs, female representation stands critically low at just 15%. Despite this underrepresentation in enrollment, the impact of the College’s targeted efforts is evident: the women's graduation rate in STEM increased from 13% to 15% in 2024, demonstrating a strong upward trend in female persistence and successful completion of these programs.
This statistic makes the STEM subject domain the sole and urgent focus of the College’s targeted encouragement strategies and access schemes for underrepresented subjects, justifying the need for the specific outreach and financial measures detailed in this section.
ÃÜÌÒÊÓÆµ utilizes its own faculty and resources to conduct targeted internal outreach, directly exposing female students and prospective applicants to opportunities in STEM and technical fields.
Targeted STEM Career Workshop: The College organized and conducted a for students from Villa International High School (VIHS). This direct university outreach activity provided young female students with crucial exposure to cutting-edge technology and science careers, actively working to demystify STEM fields and address the visibility gap that deters female applicants.

Life Skills and Career Guidance: The Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) conducts continuous Life Skills and Career Guidance Workshops across its three annual intakes. These internal sessions are designed to build the confidence, communication, and self-efficacy of all students, thereby providing the necessary soft-skills foundation for female students to feel equipped and encouraged to pursue challenging, non-traditional fields like Computer Science and Engineering.
Participation in Huawei Seeds for the Future 2024 Programme (High-Impact Exposure): ÃÜÌÒÊÓÆµ successfully nominated and saw two female students, Aishath Alya Bint Shahid and Aishath Musheera from the School of Computer Science, selected for the prestigious Huawei Seeds for the Future 2024 programme. This programme provided hands-on training in cutting-edge digital technologies, including Cloud Computing, AI Basics, and 5G Basics. The selection of two female students for this global program strongly emphasizes the College's success in promoting diversity and inclusivity within the technical faculty, directly aligning with SDG 5 (Gender Equality). Notably, Aishath Musheera's appointment to lead both the Maldives and Bhutan teams showcases the leadership potential of women in the ICT sector, paving the way for future female leaders in technology.

Empowering Student-Led Projects in Dedicated Laboratories: The College's laboratories are purposefully equipped with resources and tools that empower students to conceptualize and execute their projects independently. Whether it's the Electrical and Electronics Labs, Mechanical Labs, Robotics Lab, or Drawing Lab, each space provides a fertile ground for students to immerse themselves in their coursework. This hands-on, enabling environment encourages female students to explore multiple experiments and apply theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios, directly addressing the confidence barrier often faced in male-dominated technical fields.
Maldives' First Engineering Exhibition: The College's active role in promoting engineering—a key underrepresented STEM field (8% female participation)—was highlighted by its successful participation in the . This event served as a critical outreach activity by providing a public platform to showcase the practical applications and professional opportunities available in engineering. By demonstrating the innovative projects stemming from the College's Electrical, Electronics, and Mechanical Labs and exposing students and the public to cutting-edge technology, the College actively encouraged youth, particularly women, to explore careers in this vital sector. This effort directly supports the College’s goal of breaking down gender stereotypes and increasing female engagement in technical disciplines.
Celebrating World Engineering Day 2024: Encouraging Women in Tech: On March 4, 2024, the Faculty of Engineering and Technology celebrated World Engineering Day 2024, themed "Engineering Solution for the Sustainable World." The event featured a thought-provoking lecture on sustainable engineering practices. Crucially, the celebration included a gesture to encourage women in tech: the symbolic cake-cutting ceremony was facilitated by two female Foundation Engineering students, Ms. Rimsha and Fathimath Aanaa. This public acknowledgment served as a visible outreach activity, showcasing female participation and leadership within the College's engineering community to inspire current and prospective female students to pursue this underrepresented field.
The College proactively engages with industry, government, and academic partners to enhance financial incentives and pathways for women in underrepresented fields.
Financial Collaboration - STEM & Healthcare Equity Scholarship: The College launched the . This scheme explicitly addresses gender imbalance by targeting female students for full or partial scholarships in Computer Science and Engineering, providing a powerful financial incentive to enter these underrepresented fields.
Industry Partnership for Technology Access: The College's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Huawei ICT Academy facilitates training and curriculum access in information and communication technology. This strategic collaboration provides an external pathway that directly supports and encourages female students to engage with a leading technology organization, increasing their competence and confidence in a historically male-dominated sector.
International Academic Partnership: An provides a framework for collaboration in computer science and emerging technologies. This partnership opens doors for research exposure, faculty exchange, and mentorship in advanced technology fields, offering female students role models and academic support from a highly specialized institution.
Model Collaboration (Healthcare): The , a strong partnership between the College and a key industry player, demonstrates a proven, impactful model for using collaboration to create dedicated educational pathways for women.

ÃÜÌÒÊÓÆµâ€™s outreach strategy in 2024 was highly focused on tackling the critical underrepresentation of women in STEM fields. By leveraging its own resources, the College provided direct, high-quality exposure through the Targeted STEM Career Workshop and created an enabling, hands-on environment in its dedicated technical laboratories. Furthermore, the College showcased female success and leadership in technology by having two female students selected for the prestigious Huawei Seeds for the Future 2024 Programme, publicly validating their potential in the ICT sector. These integrated and visible outreach efforts are instrumental in dismantling gender stereotypes, building confidence, and actively encouraging female students to pursue and excel in challenging, underrepresented academic disciplines.