According to official figures declared last week, for the first time in its 800-year history, the University of Oxford admitted more girls than boys in undergraduate courses.
In 2017, a total of 1,275 women received offers from the world-famous institution, compared with 1,165 men.
“Out of them, 1,070 women achieved the grades required to secure their place, compared with 1,025 men who will start their courses in September this year,” as per the data released by the UK’s centralised universities admissions body, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
The University said that the new figures are “a welcome sign of progress for female applicants“.
The university’s traditional competitor, the University of Cambridge, had male applicants a bit more for the 2018-1440 girls to 1,405 boys. The university made more offers to women aged over 18, although fewer took up the places.
Related equalities data from the UCAS also showed an improvement among the more selective universities in recruiting students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Clare Marchant, the Chief Executive of UCAS said, “Our data shows overall that admissions are fair. Applicants from all backgrounds receive offers at rates which closely match the average for applicants to similar courses, with similar predicted grades. ”
“However, these data also show that, while progress continues to be made in widening participation, particularly at universities with a higher entry tariff, large disparities remain between the groups entering higher education generally, and at individual universities and colleges,” she warned.
However, both the universities have a noticeable fall in the gap between entry rates for the most and least advantaged young people. In 2012, 26.6% of applications from the richest segment were successful at Oxford University, dropping to 24.9% last year. At Cambridge University, it has dropped from 37% to 32.3%.
PTI Inputs
