Majority of young women in university

It seems the relentless march to 50% university participation has passed a couple of new milestones with new figures showing total participation up to 45% with 40% of men and 51% of women now going to university.

This news will no doubt be received with a heavy heart by the AGR who last week published a manifesto for the general election which included a call to any new government to drop the arbitrary 50% participation target on the basis that it promotes quantity of graduates over quality.

Pertinent to the debate will be a closer examination of the types of degrees that women, in particular, are choosing.  Last week’s budget made provision an increase in funding for a further 20,000 places in sciences, technology and maths, not the traditional bastion of female applicants in recent years.