Men are being offered bursaries to entice them to train as nurses and midwives.
Coventry University will give £1,000 to ten men in each of the three years of their degree course.
The gender gap in nursing is growing, with 2,800 men accepted on to nursing degrees last year compared with 26,000 women.
However, there has been a slump in candidates of both genders applying for nursing from this autumn because NHS bursaries have been scrapped.
The university has announced a fund of £30,000 to encourage ten men into subjects where they are under- represented, including nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, midwifery and dietetics.
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It said it thought the bursary was the first created specifically for men taking nursing and healthcare courses in British higher education. The funding was won by Coventry from the National Express Foundation charity.
“To be treated by another man or to see men on the wards can be very important for patients
The total number of nursing applicants in England fell by 23 per cent this year. The drop has been linked to the removal of NHS bursaries for healthcare students, which will affect students on nursing, midwifery and most applied health training.
Rob James, academic dean for the faculty of health and life sciences at Coventry University, said: “We support all initiatives taking positive action to address unequal gender representation in any subject discipline, and this bursary does so across healthcare training.
“While there’s a lot being done nationally — and at Coventry — to encourage women into sciences and engineering we hope this initiative will lead the way in addressing the persistent low proportion of men working in many healthcare professions.”
Colin Harrison, 32, from Solihull, one of only two men in his year on the learning disabilities nursing degree at Coventry, said: “Nursing is very much seen as a women’s profession but for many patients, especially male, to be treated by another man or to see men on the wards can be very important.
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“I think the reaction to what I do as a man is very much a generational thing and it’s changing. People usually are shocked but then are really interested in it. There is also a stigma around learning disabilities and mental health that comes from lack of understanding about what we do. But the more we get people talking about this the more easily we can bring about change.”
Applications for the bursaries will open to students applying from the West Midlands from October.