Guardian: University gender gap widens as women increase their lead

[Tsiyu]

Matthew Taylor, education correspondent
Thursday January 27, 2005
The Guardian

The gap between the number of men and women going to university is continuing to grow, according to figures published today.
Research by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) shows that 7% more female than male applicants were accepted on to undergraduate courses in 2004, with the gap widening year on year.

The growing dominance of women in higher education was underlined last week by a report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England which showed that once drop-out rates were taken into account, women were 27% more likely than men to get a degree.

Yesterday the National Union of Students' women's officer, Jo Salmon, said: "It is encouraging to see that female students continue to enter higher education despite the fact that they take longer than their male peers to pay off their debts as a result of the gender pay gap and occupational segregation."

She added: "Women outnumber men in courses such as languages, arts and humanities, teaching and nursing, but men dominate courses relating to science and engineering, which are traditionally better paid."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1399221,00.html