The Voice of America (VOA) reports that Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) accepted its first female students in March.
 
The head of the university, Kim Jin-kyong, told VOA in a telephone interview that the school included ten female students among the 150 incoming freshmen.
 
The female students are all graduates of Pyongyang Number One Senior-middle School, a school for gifted students.
 
VOA also said the university, for the first time, accepted high school graduates. Previously, the school had only selected students who had completed two or more years at university.
 
PUST, the first private university in North Korea, was funded by South Korea's Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture and the North's education ministry. Professors from the United States, Canada and Britain teach North Korean students in English.
 
Forty-four students received master degrees in information and communication technology, industry and management, and agricultural engineering and food processing in May of last year.