RMIT strategies and policies to advance gender equity are continuing to achieve the desired outcomes as female students close the gap in access, and outcomes. RMIT tracks commencement, participation, attrition and successful completion by gender (and a range of other priority equity groups) and the most recent indicates that there are not large discrepancies at an institutional level between male and female students. However, the headcount of male and female students at a college level indicates more work is still required to address gender segregation.
For 2021, the most recent year for which data is available:
- At the University-level, the male participation (51.6%) remains slightly higher than for females (48.2%). At the school-level, there are disparities in participation rates across RMIT.
- While the participation rates for Gender X remain too low to make proper comparisons, numbers in many schools continue to grow; the headcount of students in the Gender X category grew by 42pp between 2020-2021 at the RMIT-level from a low base.
- At the University level, attrition rates are generally even between female and male students, and do not appear to be impacted heavily by gender. Across all age-groups, attrition rates do not vary by more than ~2.2pp between males and females.
- There has been a gender-disparity in 4yr Completion Rate since at least 2012, with female students consistently having a higher rate than males. However, this difference has been steadily narrowing over the 2012-2018 period (from ~10pp in 2012 to 6pp in 2018).
- Female students’ higher success rate does not appear to be impacted by full-time vs. part-time study participation, and the parity of attrition rates between genders does not differ much between this type of attendance either.
At the college level, there has not been a shift in gender participation from 2020 to 2021. Participation in the College of Business and Law is almost at parity, with a participation rate at 49.2% for females and 50.7% for males. STEM’s participation did not change significantly from 2020 and saw a higher participation rate amongst males (67.9%) compared to females (32.0%). DSC had a noticeably higher participation rate amongst females compared to male (64.6% and 35.0% respectively), again not changing significantly from the previous year.
RMIT’s efforts to promote gender equity show positive results, seeing improvements in attrition and success rates for both genders, with variations across colleges and schools. Participation rates remained relatively stable, with minor shifts.
For reporting to government on student gender, RMIT is required to use the term ‘Gender X’ in alignment with the Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender (2013), representing the category of Indeterminate/Intersex/Unspecified. It refers to people who do not exclusively identify as either male or female, indicating a non-binary gender identity. Although the numbers presented in the data below are low, RMIT has witnessed a rise in the selection of the gender X category during enrolment. This change likely reflects the growing awareness of gender diversity, as well as students’ increased confidence in sharing this identity. The school with the highest rates of gender X participation is the School of Art, which experienced a small increase in gender X students in 2021. Attrition, success and completion rates for students indicating gender X remain a concern, addressed in more recent years through staff capability development on this cohort, and ensuring recognition of preferred name through RMIT systems.
