Experts seeking to address male academic underachievement among boys and young men are calling for the introduction of a “take your son into university day” in an effort to increase male participation in higher education.

The proposal is based on “take your daughter to work day”, which began in 1993 as a way of exposing girls to as wide a range of careers as possible, and aims to address the growing gender gap at British universities where female students outnumber male. Girls are already outperforming boys at the end of primary school when they take their key stage 2 Sats, with 68% of girls reaching the expected standard compared to 60% of boys. This summer 17.1% of boys in England attained top marks, an A or 7 and above, in their GSCEs compared with 23.4% of girls. That gap persists at A-level.