Across the European Union, women are dominating in master’s degree programs, comprising 58.6% of the 1.5 million students enrolled in 2022.
Yet, despite the strong presence in many disciplines, women remain a minority in doctoral studies, accounting for only 48.5% of the 99,204 PhD students.
This gender disparity varies across countries, with Cyprus boasting the highest proportion of female master’s students at 74.2%, followed closely by Poland and Lithuania.
However, the doctoral arena is less consistent, with Latvia leading the way at 59.6%, while Luxembourg sees women making up just 42.3% of its doctoral candidates.
Interestingly, between 2013 and 2022, the share of women pursuing master’s degrees has slightly decreased, while doctoral participation among women has risen by 1%.
Education remains the top field of study for women, both at the master’s and doctoral levels, with women also excelling in arts, humanities, and social sciences.
However, significant gender gaps persist in engineering, IT, and related fields, highlighting an area of ongoing challenge for gender equality in higher education.
