The Gender Gap Among Higher Education Students

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:27 pm on 4 October 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:27, 4 October 2022

I'm trying to explain to the Member that the issue that she's identified is a proper one; it deserves proper consideration and to not try to turn it into some form of foolish culture war. Because, underneath the headline, the picture is a good deal more complex than she suggested. Some subjects have more men studying them, some subjects have more women studying them; it depends what you count in as an undergraduate degree before you reach the percentages, and that's not the same in different parts of the United Kingdom. So, her comparisons between different places don't stand up once you begin to look at it, and it doesn't take into account other opportunities that people have in different parts of the United Kingdom. Our degree apprenticeship programme will not be counted in the figures that the Member has suggested this afternoon, and yet, we have succeeded there in attracting people from disadvantaged communities to study through the apprenticeship route that simply isn't available in other parts of the country. I agree with her that this is a serious matter that deserves serious consideration, but serious consideration does not mean reducing it to the sloganising that she offered us this afternoon.