RIYADH — Communications and information technology (CIT) and physics are the most preferred majors among Saudi girl students. Among girl students who pursue their university studies in the branches of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, 34.1 percent preferred CIT while 30.7 percent preferred physics. This was revealed in a report titled "Saudi women are partners in success," released by the General Authority for Statistics on the occasion of the International Women's Day 2020. The report showed that most preferred majors for Saudi university male students are engineering, architecture and construction, chosen by 40.5 percent of them, while 21.9 percent preferred CIT. The report indicated that with regard to higher education students, there is not much difference between the percentage of male and female students as the number of female students makes up 45.3 percent. The number of girl students in the undergraduate diploma courses is much less as compared to their male counterparts. The percentage of girl students who are pursuing their higher studies for doctoral degrees is 23.6 percent while in all other phases of higher education, the ratio between male and female students is not much wider. There is much difference between the number of male and female students who join the Foreign Scholarship Program with male students accounting for 70 percent while female students represent 30 percent, the report pointed out.
