A breakdown of figures from the Time Higher Education 2015-16 ranking indicates that only 33 (17 per cent) of the top 200 universities around the globe are led by a woman.
When the figures are compared to previous years, analysis shows that the gender gap among the leaders at top institutions is narrowing, albeit slowly. Last year, women were at the helm of only 28 (14 per cent) of the top 200 universities in the 2014-15 ranking.
This year, Sweden came out at the top with women leading four of the six of its top 200 universities. Other schools amongst the top ten include Harvard University, US; University of Washington, US; McGill University, Canada; Karolinska Institute, Sweden; and Wageningen University and Research Centre, Netherlands.
In the UK only 15 per cent of universities have a female leader compared to the US where the figure stands at 36 per cent. However, two of the top women-led universities in the ranking are UK based, with Louise Richardson and Alice Gast holding down the fort at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London, respectively.
Noticeably, 17 out of 28 countries that appear in the top 200 do not have female university leaders represented at their top institutions. It is a small improvement from last year with 19 countries.
Speaking to Times Higher Education, Suzanne Fortier, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University – the only Canadian institution in the top 200 with a female leader – said: “So when we think of how many female presidents we might hope to have, we already know that the upper limit is probably around 25 per cent.
“When we try to set goals it is important to know what would be achievable. It will take a little bit of time for that to get through the pipeline but eventually we might see parity at every level and I certainly hope we will.”
You can view the full list here.
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