Proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds going to elite universities rises 10% as overall applications fall
Women are a third more likely to go to university than men, according to a Ucas report, widening the gender gulf in higher education.
Demand for university places fell in terms of applications (-8.8%) and acceptances (-13%) when higher fees were introduced for students this October. But the fall in the number of young men applying was about twice that of young women, with entry rates for both at 24.6% and 32.5% respectively.
This widens a long-standing gap in application rates for male and female students, according to the Ucas end of cycle report.
"The application rate for 18-year-old men remains below the entry rate for women throughout the period. That is, if the acceptance rate for men was 100%, the resulting entry rate for men would still be below that of women," the report said.
Bahram Bekhradnia, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the gap in university entries reflected attainment patterns within schools, but the reasons behind the trend were unclear.
"It's probably down to cultural reasons. The change was first noticed around the introduction of GCSEs and the move towards more continuous assessment and coursework in schools, though there's no evidence that this is the cause of the gender differences. This is an international phenomenon, it's not restricted to the UK," he said.
"Unless men are genuinely less smart than women this pattern will come to an end and be reversed at some time."
The number of AAA students accepting their university offers this September also fell slightly, dropping two percentage points on last year, a dip which "reflects the behaviour of applicants rather than institutions", according to Mark Corver, head of analysis and research at Ucas.
There was no increase in the acceptance rate of students who obtained AAB, despite a government policy which removed the cap on the number of students with AAB grades or higher universities were able to recruit
But a greater proportion of students enrolled on their preferred choices this autumn, with far fewer securing a university place through clearing.
The University and College Union (UCU) said the fall in acceptances show the government's higher education policies were failing. The UCU's general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "Higher tuition fees forced a scramble for places last year, which simply highlights the unfair nature of the government's hike in fees."
University acceptance figures show half of the students who were offered a university place this autumn will be charged £9,000 tuition fees.
The proportion of English 18-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds entering universities with the highest entry requirements rose by 10% on last year.
Les Ebdon, director of the Office for Fair Access (Offa), welcomed the figures but warned that more should be done to improve access to university:
"Universities work hard to reach out to young people in communities where very few people go to higher education, helping to raise their aspirations and academic achievement, for example through summer schools and mentoring.
"But there are still wide gaps in participation. Overall, entry rates for 18-year-olds from advantaged areas remain three to four times higher than for those in disadvantaged areas."
