Institutional development · Recruitment, enrolment and mobility · Ghana
Women make up 51% of KNUST's 18,535 new students as applications top 70,000
Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) registered 9,436 women and 9,099 men in its 2026/2027 intake, the first time women form the majority among recent cohorts it reported.
Why it matters: KNUST's 2026/2027 fresh students, 16,222 undergraduates and 2,313 postgraduates, enter a cohort in which women now outnumber men.
KNUST said 18,535 fresh students registered for 2026/2027, of whom 9,436 (about 51%) are female and 9,099 (about 49%) are male.
Vice-Chancellor Christian Agyare told the matriculation ceremony that the university received more than 70,000 applications and admitted and registered 16,222 undergraduates and 2,313 postgraduates.
According to the university, women made up 39% of the fresh intake in 2020/2021, 44.27% in 2023/2024 and roughly 43% in 2024/2025.
Professor Agyare told the new students that their matriculation oath commits them to respect the university's values, follow its rules and behave responsibly.
Editor’s view
Rachel Smith, Students and International Editor
KNUST's 2026/2027 intake of 18,535 students is majority female for the first time among the years the university cited, rising from 39% women in 2020/2021 to about 51% now, from a pool of more than 70,000 applicants.
