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Girls are 35% more likely than boys to go to university and that figure rises to 50% for youngsters coming from poorer backgrounds.

Admissions body Ucas said 36,000 fewer young men are starting a degree than if entry rates for the sexes were the same.

Chief Mary Curnock Cook called the gap “unacceptably large and widening”.

A record 532,300 students won a university place this year, a rise of 3.1%.

Those from poorer backgrounds are now 65% more likely to go into higher education than in 2006.

Among UK students alone, there has been a 2.8% rise in numbers, with 463,700 finding places through Ucas.

But while overall numbers rose, there were wide gaps between the sexes.

Ucas chief Mary Curnock Cook said: "We have previously highlighted the unacceptably large and widening gap between entry rates for men and women and this year shows young men, and especially young white men, falling even further behind."