Women have been the majority in UK higher education for a decade, and the latest figures on women’s university enrolment in the UK show no sign of that reversing. But the headline hides a split that matters to anyone who hires, plans a career or runs a business: the subjects and research levels feeding tomorrow’s industries still skew heavily male. Here is what the 2023/24 data actually says, and what you can do with it.
Overall numbers: a stable female majority
In the 2023/24 academic year, UK higher education providers enrolled approximately 2.90 million students, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Undergraduates made up around 2.08 million of these enrolments, and postgraduates around 821,000. HESA bases its percentages on students whose sex was known, excluding unknown or undeclared values.
Women accounted for 57% of all HE students in 2023/24, a share that has held steady at 56 to 57% for the past decade. At the top level, the story is stability rather than decline. All figures in this section come from HESA’s Higher Education Student Statistics bulletin for 2023/24, published in January 2025.
Level of study: where the majority narrows
Break the 2023/24 figures down by level and the pattern shifts:
- At undergraduate level, women made up around 57% of students.
- On postgraduate taught courses, women accounted for close to three in five enrolments, though small year-on-year fluctuations are common.
- Among postgraduate research students, women held just under half of places, a share that has risen gradually over the past decade in this traditionally more male-dominated level of study.
In other words, the overall female majority is built on undergraduate and taught postgraduate study. Research degrees, the level that feeds senior expert and academic roles, remain much closer to parity.
Subject choices: where women dominate, where gaps remain
Subject areas show the widest gender gaps, and they shape not just university cultures but future industries and your hiring pool. The figures below come from HESA data for 2023/24:
- Female-majority fields include education and teaching (around three quarters female), psychology and veterinary sciences (around four in five) and languages and area studies (around two thirds).
- STEM subjects show a persistent imbalance. Computing had only around a quarter women, and engineering and technology around one in five.
The business consequence is direct. If you recruit in engineering or tech, your pool of female graduates is small and improving only slowly. The employers who build early relationships with universities, through placements, sponsorships and mentoring, will pick up a disproportionate share of that scarce talent.
Geography, deprivation and the wider picture
Regional and socio-economic data add further nuance:
- In Northern Ireland, women accounted for around 60% of Northern Ireland domiciled higher education enrolments in 2023/24, according to Department for the Economy (NI) statistics. Men remained far more likely than women to study narrow STEM subjects such as engineering and computing.
- Students from more deprived backgrounds are less likely to enter higher education overall. UCAS end-of-cycle data for 2024 show that female 18-year-olds had higher entry rates than males across all POLAR4 deprivation quintiles, with the gender gap generally widest in the most disadvantaged areas.
So while overall female enrolment is strong, subject, background and geography each pull the numbers in different directions. If you recruit from particular regions or specialisms, the gender balance you see can look very different from the national average.
What this means for women in business
Four practical takeaways for founders, small firms hiring and anyone weighing up a return to study:
- Recruitment strategy: employers in STEM sectors need to work harder to attract female graduates. Internships, outreach and mentoring build pipelines, because enrolment numbers show fewer women entering those subjects in the first place.
- Professional development: women are better represented on taught postgraduate courses than at research level. If you are aiming to move from expert to leader, a research degree or specialist qualification is where you can still stand out.
- Career choices: if you are considering university, or advising women who are, a high-demand field with a gender imbalance can offer a competitive advantage. Bear in mind, though, that it may also mean navigating a culture or support gap.
- Planning a return to education: adult returners may find fewer female peers in some postgraduate subjects, particularly in STEM and research. Factor that into your search for mentoring and networks before you commit.
Outlook: what to watch next
- The next HESA bulletin, covering 2024/25 and expected in January 2026: whether the female share holds steady or begins to shift.
- Subject-level movement, particularly in computing and engineering. Even a small rise in women’s share there compounds over time into a changed industrial workforce.
- Regional and deprivation data, which matter for any business recruiting locally or building a diverse intake.
- Policy changes: funding, support for returners, childcare, flexible learning and degree apprenticeships all shape whether women can take up places.
The headline is settled: women are the majority in UK higher education, at 57% of enrolments in 2023/24, and that position is stable. The live question is distribution. For women running businesses, hiring or building new skills, the value lies in reading past the average: recruit where the gaps are, specialise where the imbalance works in your favour and support the changes that widen the pipeline.
For the wider picture on female enterprise in the UK, see our key facts about women in business. And if you want to see where all that graduate talent can lead, our analysis of women in UK AI leadership shows the other end of the pipeline.
