Women's Colleges Get High Marks for Educational Quality

Female students at women's colleges give their educational experience a higher rating than women studying at co-educational institutions do, according to a recent study by Indiana University's Center for Postsecondary Research.

Female students who took part in the study were more likely to describe educational experiences such as actively participating in classroom discussions, working with peer groups, and having discussions with faculty members outside of class as 'frequent' if they attended a women's college.

Researchers noted that women's colleges also seemed to provide female students with more and better faculty mentoring and more opportunities to play a leading role in student government and other organizations.

“There’s an ethos created [at women’s colleges] where women are taught, ‘this is what you are supposed to do,’ ” Jillian L. Kinzie, associate director of the Center for Postsecondary Research, said. “You are supposed to speak up in class, supposed to do well in math, supposed to take advantage of educational opportunities.”

Source: "Validation for Women's Colleges," by Elia Powers - Inside Higher Education, July 14, 2006