Half a million men have missed out on higher education

In a new report, Boys will be boys: The educational underachievement of boys and young men (HEPI Report 188), Nick Hillman and Mark Brooks OBE show differences in educational achievement between men and women have meant half a million young men missing out on higher education over the past decade.

This calculation is based on how many more men would have gone to higher education if their participation matched the much higher levels for young women. One result of the shortfall is more economic inactivity among young men and a veering towards the political extremes, particularly among less well-educated men.

The paper, which has been kindly sponsored by Ulster University and which boasts a Foreword by Mary Curnock Cook CBE, calls for a new approach that includes:

1. evaluating and expanding, including via seed-corn funding if necessary, proven grassroots initiatives aimed at raising the standard of boys’ education (eg Boys’ Impact, Lads Need Dads and FRED or Fathers Reading Every Day);
2. putting a greater focus on gender disparities, including among staff, in school inspections as well as in higher education institutions’ Access and Participation Plans, while expecting a dedicated focus on gender disparities from the Social Mobility Commission and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission as well as from the Children’s Commissioner in England and the Commissioner for Fair Access in Scotland;
3. developing a ‘boy positive’ environment in schools, learning from what happens at schools where gender disparities have been tackled and on the emerging literature on how to teach boys most effectively;
4. restarting the Westminster Education Select Committee’s investigation into boys’ attainment and engagement in education, which stopped at an early stage because of the 2024 general election;
5. expanding the inquiry on ‘Widening access to higher education’ currently underway by the Education, Children and Young People Committee in the Scottish Parliament to include a reference to gender alongside the other personal characteristics it is already focusing on;
6. supplementing the Terms of Reference of the Curriculum and Assessment Review in England to ensure it considers the current gender attainment gap and tests its recommendations for fairness between the sexes;
7. adopting a strategy for men’s education at Westminster, overseen by a new Minister for Men and Boys or the existing Ministers for Equalities, to put a new dedicated and cross-Whitehall focus on gender disparities throughout education;
8. learning from the push to get more women into scientific areas to get more men into teaching, care roles and nursing;
9. encouraging, and where necessary funding, new research from institutions such as the Education Endowment Fund on under-researched areas affecting boys’ education, including the apparent differential treatment of boys and girls by teachers; and
10. taking action in specific areas where existing rules disproportionately affect men’s access to education – for instance, most (96%) prisoners are men so the rules restricting prisoners’ access to student finance mainly affect men.

In 2024/25, around 44,000 fewer UK-domiciled young men than women accepted a place at a UK higher education institution. If young women and young men went to higher education at the same rate, there would actually be more male students as more men are born each year: the gap between what currently happens and full equity stands at around 55,000 missing men a year – or around half a million ‘missing men’ over the past decade as a whole.

Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute and the co-author of the new report, said:

‘Education holds the key to unlocking more equal opportunities across our society but boys and men currently fall behind girls and women at each stage of education, from infant class to PhDs. The resolute focus that is generally put on educational differences by class and ethnicity is generally missing when it comes to the sex of learners. That must change if we are to tackle one of the most egregious issues affecting education as well as society.

‘We need a cross-government strategy to address the problem. It wasn’t until 2022 that we had a dedicated health strategy for women and we are still waiting for a dedicated education strategy for men. For any new strategy to be truly effective, it will need clear ministerial oversight, including – if necessary – a new Minister for Men and Boys to oversee it.

‘Without change of this scale, another half a million young men – those who are currently schoolboys – will lose out just like their older brothers and fathers already have.’

Mark Brooks OBE, male inclusion policy adviser and co-author of the new report, said:

‘Everyone in education knows young men are not achieving as much as young women. Yet it has become a truth that dare not speak its name. Each year, it can be clearly seen when the exams results and higher education participation rates are published. Nationally though, there is little discussion or accountability, let alone any action. It is difficult to understand the reasons why – even more so, if we truly aim to create a more inclusive society.

‘This report highlights a range of approaches and initiatives from the grassroots of the education community. These, and others, need to be fast-tracked and mainstreamed as we can no longer continue to let further generations of young men down. We need them to do better academically. Not only because it helps them, our society and the economy, but also because – importantly – it helps young women too. We need both to rise together.’

Mary Curnock Cook CBE, a former Chief Executive of UCAS, has contributed a Foreword to the report, which says:

‘If we want to advance equality between the sexes, we need to educate men as well as women. That is why ignoring the worsening gulf between education outcomes for boys and young men compared to their female peers is no longer an option. …

‘It matters because a significant minority of men and boys are unnecessarily underachieving in education as this report so graphically describes. They are going on to crowd our justice system and prisons, our hospitals, our negative narratives about masculinity and the continuing fight for gender equality in the workplace and in homes. 

‘As well as the societal damage, the UK suffers from low growth and productivity, and there are mounting calls on the public purse, notably for defence, health and of course education, yet the net loss to the Exchequer for under-educating our boys has never been calculated. The troubling data in this report should be a call to action for Government and policymakers who can surely no longer shy away from these uncomfortable facts.’

Susan Morgan, Principal Investigator of Ulster University’s Taking Boys Seriously research, commented: 

‘Ulster University, as part of its commitment to boosting the participation and success of male students from communities experiencing multiple disadvantage, is proud to sponsor HEPI’s landmark Boys will be boys report. While many boys and young men across the UK are excelling in education, too many are left behind. This HEPI report reiterates the alarming statistical realities evidencing growing gaps between male and female educational attainment and participation in higher education.

‘Behind the statistics are a diversity of boys and young men who, when given the opportunity, have a lot to say about their education and learning. The long-standing Taking Boys Seriously research initiative is committed to elevating these boys’ voices and ensuring they remain central to the development of initiatives designed to tackle attainment gaps. This is a systemic issue that requires collaborative action, and the report points to the establishment of a growing network of Boys’ Impact Hubs across the UK, founded by Dr Alex Blower and based on the Taking Boys Seriously research. A dedicated policy framework for supporting and resourcing such collaborative action is one area in which we would like to see greater political will and action to support the flourishing of boys and young men.’

Sean, a current student and founding member of the Taking Boys Seriously Student Advisory group at Ulster University, commented: 

‘This HEPI report highlights the importance of making higher education a more realistic option for young men. Venturing into higher education has benefited me immensely. It has granted me the opportunity to meet like-minded people with similar ambitions to myself. The career I am currently pursuing is to become a teacher, and I believe higher education is the best route to achieve this. Encouraging males from disadvantaged communities to pursue caring professions helps challenge stereotypes and brings diversity to essential fields. It also creates opportunities for personal advancement while addressing critical workforce shortages in healthcare and social care. I joined the Taking Boys Seriously student advisory group to make a genuine impact on a growing concern.’

Helen Pike, Master of Magdalen College School in Oxford and co-Chair of the HMC / GSA Universities Committee, said:

‘Boys – and in particular, white working class boys – are relatively disadvantaged in education. For a host of reasons this is a fact which nationally we feel at liberty to overlook.  If we want to advance everyone’s prospects, ignoring the progress of this large group of learners makes no sense.

‘Aiming for a system that works for everyone and supporting families in encouraging boys to value education are great places to start, if we are to ease the human and social cost of male disadvantage later in life. If we are to achieve this, we are going to have to get comfortable again with talking about class.

‘This timely and important report looks beyond headline-grabbing tropes of so called “toxic masculinity”, and suggests that we ought to be taking a closer look at what a more equal society might mean – and what it might take to achieve it.’

Notes for Editors

1. HEPI was founded in 2002 to influence the higher education debate with evidence. We are UK-wide, independent and non-partisan. HEPI is funded by organisations and higher education institutions that wish to see vibrant policy discussions.
2. Nick Hillman is the Director of HEPI and the author or co-author of numerous reports on higher education. His first permanent job was teaching History for three years in a boys’ school. He is a governor of two secondary schools and sits on the board of two universities. He is also a Fellow of the Girls’ School Association.
3. Mark Brooks is a policy adviser on men’s health, education and domestic abuse. He received an OBE in 2019 for his voluntary work for male victims of domestic abuse and an honorary doctorate from the University of West London in 2023 for his policy work on men and boys’ issues. He is a co-founding trustee of the Men and Boys Coalition, a National Ambassador for International Men’s Day UK and the Policy Adviser for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Issues Affecting Men and Boys.