Women now outnumber men in almost two-thirds of degree subjects, and the gender gap in British universities has almost doubled in size since 2007, figures show.

The statistics, published by the university admissions service Ucas, show that men still dominate in areas traditionally seen as male, such as engineering and some sciences.

Among students who started degree courses last autumn, women outnumbered men in 112 out of 180 subjects, while men were ahead in 65 and there was equal representation in three.

Overall, 66,840 more women than men are now on degree courses, compared with a gap of 34,035 in 2007.

Mary Curnock Cook, the Ucas chief executive, said that despite the clear evidence of a growing gender gap, there had been a “deafening policy silence” on the issue.

The biggest gap is in nursing, where women outnumber men by nine to one, with 22,285 more female students than male. Psychology has the second biggest gender divide, followed by social work, education and design. Women are also ahead in areas such as history, philosophy, English, law and biology.

Among the subjects with more men, the biggest gap is in computer science, which has 13,085 more male students than female, followed by mechanical engineering, sports science, electrical engineering and economics.

Ucas noted that as there were more men in the population than women in general, there should be about 5% more male students than female in each subject.



Curnock Cook said: “Girls are doing better throughout primary, secondary and higher education than boys; poor, white boys are the most disadvantaged group in entry to higher education and the gap is getting bigger.

“But despite the clear evidence and despite the press coverage, there is a deafening policy silence on the issue. Has the women’s movement now become so normalised that we cannot conceive of needing to take positive action to secure equal education outcomes for boys?”

Concerns about the gender gap in higher education have been growing for some time. Last month an Ucas report said the gulf between the numbers of young men and women going to university had reached a record level, with tens of thousands of men “missing” from higher education.

Female 18-year-old pupils are now over a third more likely to start a degree course than their male counterparts, and those from poorer backgrounds are more than 50% more likely to enter university.

Caroline Jordan, president of the Girls’ Schools Association, said more needed to be done to inform girls about the careers available in engineering and computing. “What concerns me is the gap in the different types of sciences, with women focusing on the more obvious people-orientated science roles without considering engineering and computing opportunities, when we know that we need one million new engineers and technicians in the next five years.”

A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “We are committed to ensuring that everyone with the potential has the opportunity to benefit from higher education, irrespective of their background or gender.

“This academic year we saw record numbers of students entering university, including from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are currently consulting on further measures to improve access to higher education, including from white working-class boys.”