Figures show men being outnumbered four to one in some university campuses as teenage boys are urged to “stop dithering” about their futures and apply to university. These figures come in a week when thousands of students across the UK get their A Level results on Thursday.
The problem deemed “missing men” in higher education has become urgent as girls outpace boys at GCSE and A-Levels with more of them applying for university places. It is estimated some 90,000 more women applied for university places than men. Just to give a snapshot, at Roehampton University there wasps 75% women to 25% men. At King’s College London the ratio of students is 64% women to 36% men. At Leeds 60% to 40%. At Edinburgh University 59% to 41% with the average gender ratio across UK universities 57% women to 43% men.
Mary Curnock Cook, the head of the Universities and Colleges (UCAS) over the weekend said “I have a special shout-out for young men who might be dithering about going to university: whatever you study, you'll come out of the experience with a much clearer sense of your future self and full of ideas about how to make the most of you life and career.”