With the preliminary announcement of the results of the national university entrance ‎exams known in Iran as the Konkoor and the identification of the highest scorers, what ‎has emerged is that women have surpassed men in academic achievement by occupying ‎‎56 percent of the 10 highest ranks in various categories. However, this is the first year in ‎which, with the administration’s pressure, gender quotas would officially be implemented ‎in computing final Konkoor results. ‎

The announcement of names of 36 selected candidates in the Konkoor exam for 2008 in ‎the five categories of technical and mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, art and ‎foreign languages indicates that women have bypassed men by achieving a 5 percentage ‎advantage point in acquiring high ranks in this year’s exams. ‎

Among the 10 highest ranked candidates in the mathematics group 3 are women, but in ‎the natural sciences group, 7 out of the 10 highest ranked candidates are women. In the ‎social sciences group as well, 7 of the 10 highest ranked candidates are women and in the ‎art group the top 3 candidates are all women. Only in the foreign languages group the 3 ‎top candidates are all men. ‎

As such, among the 36 highest ranked Konkoor scorers this year, 20 are women and 16 ‎are men. According to the Mehr news agency, statistical reports indicate that women ‎have achieved 55.87 percent of high ranks in this year’s Konkoor results. ‎

Meanwhile, in last year’s Konkoor, among the highest ranked 50 candidates (1 to 10) in ‎the various categories 27 were men and 23 were women. In other words, men achieved ‎‎54 percent of highest ranks in last year’s Konkoor, while women achieved 46 percent of ‎the highest ranks. ‎

One million, 344 thousand and 978 students took part in this year’s Konkoor. The ‎percentage of women compared to men taking part in this year’s Konkoor was initially ‎announced by the Sazman Sanjesh Amoozesh Keshvar to be 60 percent women and 40 ‎percent men. Abdolrasoul Pourabbas told the Mehr news agency in 1386 that despite the ‎greater number of women achieving high scores over men, the final distribution of 50 to ‎‎50 will be implemented for men and women. ‎

On 4 Tir of this year, Ebrahim Khodaei, the statistical and technical deputy of the ‎Sazman Sanjesh Amoozesh Keshvar, announced in a television interview that "the ‎number of female candidates taking this year's Konkoor, like the previous year, exceeds ‎the number of men," adding, "women comprise 63 percent and men comprise 37 percent ‎of this year's Konkoor test takers." ‎