Gender gap widens on engineering courses

The gender gap on degree courses has nearly doubled in eight years, according to UCAS figures

Men continue to dominate on engineering and some science courses, according to figures published by admissions service UCAS.

The gender gap in degree courses has nearly doubled in eight years. The figures show that men dominate in what are known as traditionally 'male' STEM subjects. In contrast, women outnumbered men by almost two thirds across all degree subject areas last year.

The biggest gap between male and female students was in computer science, which has 13,085 more male students than female, followed by mechanical engineering, sport and exercise science, electronic and electrical engineering and economics. 

The findings show that within mechanical engineering courses, men represent 7,690 and women only 845. This is similar to findings from civil engineering, where men now represent 3,385 and women only 785.

However, the findings represent positive news for engineering courses overall. Since 2007, entrants onto mechanical engineering subjects have increased on a constant upward basis from 4,710 to 8,535 in 2015; aerospace engineering has seen figures increase from 1,860 to 3,100; and civil engineering entrants have grown from 3,740 to 4,170.