University entrance

The gap between working class boys and girls going to university widened in the first year of the new tuition fees regime, according to new findings.

Looking across all backgrounds, women are now a third more likely to go into higher education than men, a gender gap that seems to have grown since 2010.

The study, by the Independent Commission on Fees (ICF) shows that students from the richest fifth of neighbourhoods are 10 times more likely than those from the poorest fifth of neighbourhoods to go to one of the country’s most selective universities.

In addition, the ICF research, which analyses data from the UCAS body responsible for managing applications to higher education courses, found that 20,000 more boys go to university each year from the two top fifth neighbourhoods than from the two bottom fifth neighbourhoods.

General secretary of the UCU lecturers’ union Sally Hunt said that individuals’ backgrounds “should not be holding them back and nor should the cost of studying”.