THE GENDER gap is closing at third level, with a record number of male students in college.
New figures from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) show that 48 per cent of those in higher education are male.
For the last number of years females – who outperform males in virtually all Leaving Cert subjects – have outnumbered males by 55 per cent to 45 per cent across higher education.
The narrowing gender gap comes as thousands of male school leavers and mature learners opt for colleges, as job and apprenticeship opportunities decline.
There are now 188,000 students in higher education, compared to 41,000 in 1980.
Females still outnumber males in the seven universities by 57 per cent to 43 per cent. However, males outnumber females in the institutes of technology by 55 per cent to 45 per cent, but on honours degree (level eight) programmes, there are more females (52 per cent). In most disciplines at undergraduate level, women still outnumber men. The exceptions are business, which is 53 per cent male, agriculture, which is 59 per cent male, and engineering, which is 78 per cent male.
Science is 55 per cent male, but this includes computing science, which comprises 84 per cent male students. When computing is excluded, science has a majority of female students, at 51 per cent.
High points courses continue to be female-dominated. Veterinary medicine and pharmacy are 70 per cent female, while 57 per cent of law students are women. In medical courses, females are three times as likely to take up a third-level place.
Teaching will continue to be female-dominated, as over 78 per cent of education students are women.
Tom Boland, HEA chief executive, said the figures indicated the economic downturn had acted as a disincentive for young males to leave education early.