Drawing on new data on the cost of higher education in France, combined with a survey on the resources and living conditions of young adults, this report documents gender disparities in higher education expenditure. Owing to the significant under-representation of women in the streams receiving the most substantial resources (preparatory classes for the grandes écoles, university institutes of technology, grandes écoles, etc.) as well as in scientific disciplines – which are more costly due to higher staff-to-student ratios – expenditure on higher education for female students is 18 per cent lower than that allocated to their male counterparts. These disparities cannot be explained by differences in the duration of studies, but rather by differing choices of academic pathways and subject specialisations.
Higher education expenditure: what are the disparities based on students’ gender?
Presentation
Key Results
- Although women are more likely than men to enter higher education, they remain significantly under-represented in certain fields and disciplines: they account for less than 40 per cent of student numbers at the grandes écoles, university institutes of technology and preparatory classes for the grandes écoles, and around one-fifth of student numbers on university courses in mathematics, engineering and computer science.
- This gender-based difference in the choice of study programmes and disciplines results in unequal spending on higher education: expenditure on female students is 18 per cent lower than that allocated to male students.
- These disparities relate not only to public expenditure on higher education, but also to private expenditure (via tuition fees paid by parents).
- The disparities are particularly marked at the top end of the expenditure distribution: 10 per cent of male students benefit from cumulative expenditure exceeding 53,000 euros, compared with less than 5 per cent of female students.
- Gender inequalities in higher education expenditure are entirely attributable to differences in the educational choices made by women and men, which result in unequal representation across higher education courses and disciplines:
Method and Data
This note is based on a study examining inequalities in access to higher education according to parental income (Bonneau and Grobon, 2022). As part of this study, the authors calculated individual expenditure on higher education for a representative sample of young adults, enabling a detailed analysis of disparities in higher education expenditure according to students’ socio-demographic characteristics. This note focuses specifically on the disparities observed from a gender perspective.
It draws primarily on data from the National Survey on Young People’s Resources (ENRJ), conducted jointly by the Directorate for Research, Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees) and the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) in 2014, combined with detailed data on expenditure on higher education. :
Partners
This paper was supported by the Chair in Education Policy and Social Mobility. Established in 2021 as part of a partnership between the Ardian Foundation, the Directorate for Evaluation, Forecasting and Performance of the Ministry of National Education and Youth (MENJ-DEPP) and PSE – Paris School of Economics, this chair aims to promote high-level research and the dissemination of knowledge on education policies and social mobility