Retention and Gender Equity: Female Experiences on Graduate Evening Programmes

In Uganda, the effort to make education available and accessible to all and to enable citizens achieve the highest level of learning led to the introduction of evening programmes at higher level to target those who cannot fit in normal day-hours programmes. Despite considerable research dedicated to female enrolment at higher education, attention has not been given to challenges faced by female graduate students in accessing evening programmes. Researchers examine the physical, organisational, managerial, and policy frameworks within which female students access graduate evening programmes. In understanding some female graduate students’ experiences on evening programmes, researchers discover multifaceted challenges they encounter such as lack of enough facilities to accommodate female graduate students, poor security, sexual harassment, poor economic background of most female students including single mothers, lack of guidance and counselling services, and household responsibilities for the married females. Researchers conclude that the causes are personal, social, economic, institutional and administrative. Researchers, therefore, recommend that the University should set up or lobby the private sector to provide affordable female accommodation near campus, strengthen security measures in and around campus, revitalise guidance and counselling services, and ensure equal opportunity policy.