... but 60,000 more girls head to university

FEMALE freshers will outnumber boys by around 60,000 at university this year.

Yesterday, Ucas figures showed 238,310 girls had been accepted on to courses after picking up their A-level results – compared with just 178,000 boys.

The gender gap continues a trend that has seen girls outstrip boys in entering higher education for the past five years. However, the number for both sexes decreased this year because of a drop of 2 per cent in overall admissions to 416,310. The reduction has been partly caused by a fall in EU students, which has been attributed to last year’s Brexit vote.

Although students from the EU are still currently entitled to the same tuition fee and loan arrangements as UK students, it is thought the uncertainty caused by the referendum has deterred some.

A total of 26,090 EU students were placed this year, a fall of 3 per cent on last year. There had previously been concerns about the high numbers of EU students in the UK, as there is no way to force them to repay their generous student loans when they leave the country. Graduates who stay in the UK are made to repay their loans when they start work through the tax system.

Other factors include a drop in the population of 18-year-olds and changes to the way nursing courses are funded. The fall in numbers meant many institutions still had places available yesterday. Those who failed to meet required grades for their course were able to apply for another one through clearing. Last night, there were more than 4,300 courses available at Russell Group universities in clearing.

Ucas data showed the number of international students accepted increased by 4 per cent to 30,350 – and a record 21,470 pupils from the poorest backgrounds gained places.