UC San Diego’s Rady School Of Management announced a 60 percent female enrollment across its six masters programs on Oct. 16, 2019. This marks a step towards diversifying Rady’s student body, as last year, only 28 percent of the total students in the Master of Business Administration program were female.

This increase is most notable in its Masters of Finance programs, which are 64 percent female, and its business analytics program, which is 67 percent female.

Sonya Xavier, a first-year masters student in Rady’s Masters of Science in Business Analytics program, describes her classes as being composed primarily of women from all around the world. 

“My classes are mainly … women and international students,” Xavier said to the UCSD Guardian. “I think that it’s cool we have a ‘potluck from the globe.”

Xavier went on to discuss how having such a diverse classroom has the potential to benefit all students.

“I feel like what I’m learning the most is from my classmates,” Xavier said. “I guess that’s how I’m tapping into the, not so much the formal things, but more about their past experiences.”

Leading the Way: 60% of students enrolled in @RadySchool's master's programs are women. #TritonPride https://t.co/cNhxnlJKgD

— UC San Diego (@UCSanDiego) October 18, 2019

One of Rady’s new focuses is to empower its students through entrepreneurial opportunities. Dean Lisa Ordoñez told Poets & Quants that she wants to put a focus on entrepeneurialship, to help give strength to underrepresented individuals in start-ups. 

 “One way that we do this, we will definitely focus more on entrepreneurship,” Ordoñez said. “But we really look to find as many female and under-represented minority mentors as possible, with the idea that you see people who look like you starting businesses.”

While Dean Ordoñez only started this year, the change that she wants to incorporate into Rady’s culture is already being implemented into classrooms. About half of the students currently enrolled in the Rady masters programs are international students. The faculty’s main objective is to push the agenda of entrepreneurship to welcome a new wave of business owners. 

“Most business schools struggle on the under-represented minority side,” Ordoñez said“We struggle; we work to try to increase doctoral students as well as under-represented minority faculty.We need to diversify our employees because we know companies that are more diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity as well as other perspectives are more productive and more creative. And so we all need to be focusing on this.”

Rady currently offers six different Masters programs, one Ph.D. program, and four minors available to all UCSD undergraduate students. Applications for the masters’ programs are accepted on a rolling basis, with the first round deadline for Fall 2020 enrollment coming up on Dec. 1, 2019.