Schools' Oxbridge divide 'stark'

8 July 2011 Last updated at 13:49 GMT By Sanchia Berg BBC Today programme Cambridge and Oxford Universities are under pressure to boost their intakes of poorer students Just five schools in England sent more pupils to Oxford and Cambridge over three years than nearly 2,000 others combined, researchers have found.

The Sutton Trust charity said its school-by-school data on university entry showed "stark" differences.

BBC analysis of the data shows private schools often get more pupils into selective universities than state schools with similar results do.

Universities called for more freedom in offering places to bright state pupils.

The Sutton Trust has, for the first time, combined individual schools' A-level results with data from the university admissions body Ucas.

Its table shows, by individual school, what percentage of pupils went forward into higher education in general, and what percentage went to a list of 30 universities the charity considers "highly selective".

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A bright student is a bright student is a bright student... it doesn't matter what their school or educational background is, the interview will allow us to pull that out”

End Quote Mike Nicholson Director of undergraduate admissions, Oxford University Four independent schools - Eton, Westminster, St Paul's Boys and St Paul's Girls - and state-funded Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, together sent 946 pupils to Oxford and Cambridge between 2007 and 2009.

By contrast, 2,000 lower-performing schools combined sent a total of 927 students to the two elite universities, getting less than 6% of available places, the Sutton Trust found.

Many of these schools sent no pupils at all, or on average fewer than one per year.

The BBC used the data to compare schools with similar average A-level points against each other, and found that the figures suggested a gap remained between independent and state schools' university admissions.

For example, among schools where pupils achieved an average of 801-850 A-level points each (900 is equivalent to three A grades), 26% of the comprehensive school pupils went on to the selective universities, compared with 45% of the independent school pupils.

Continue reading the main story And for schools with 851-900 A-level points per student, 50% of independent school pupils got places at the selective universities, while only 32% of comprehensive pupils did.

Sutton Trust chairman Sir Peter Lampl said "stark inequalities" in university entrance were driven primarily by the exam results.

Independent and selective state schools tend to dominate the highest A-level grade scores.

But he added that the data "reveals that university chances can vary dramatically for schools with similar average grades".

The Trust also noted that pupils from high-attaining independent schools put in more applications to highly selective universities than comprehensive school peers with similar grades.

'Subjects are key'

However, the Russell Group, which represents 20 leading universities, said it was concerned that the Sutton Trust report failed to explain fully the reasons behind the gap.

Universities say A-level subject choice is often a factor in place offers

It said a simple A-level point score did not show what subjects were taken, nor exactly what grades were achieved.

Professor Anna Vignoles of the Institute of Education has researched the issue.

She also notes that students with good grades may still not have studied the required subjects for certain courses.

And she adds that a points average might camouflage wide grade variation within an individual school.

But even so, there is still some disparity in acceptances between independent and state schools with similar grades which could not be explained away, she said.

"In our research, not all of that gap disappears even when you account for subject and choice at A-level."

Mike Nicholson, director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford, said that the university targeted state schools which had little or no history of sending pupils there.

In recent years, state school applications had risen, he added.

During the selection process, the university now flags up candidates with excellent results who are from disadvantaged backgrounds - whether from an under-achieving school, a postcode indicating deprivation, or time spent in the care system.

Such candidates may be fast-tracked to interview.

"A bright student is a bright student is a bright student... it doesn't matter what their school or educational background is, the interview will allow us to pull that out," said Mr Nicholson.

'Damning indictment'

Universities UK, the vice-chancellors' umbrella body, called on the government to demonstrate a "strong will and commitment" in backing the use of such information - sometimes called "contextual data" - about deprived students' backgrounds, in university admissions processes.

In its recent White Paper, the government outlined plans to allow universities to offer as many places as they want to students with AAB grades at A-level.

These must "explicitly allow universities to use contextual data in the admissions process", said UUK president Professor Sir Steve Smith.

"However, we must make sure that efforts to increase the participation rate of disadvantaged students isn't focused solely on a handful of the most competitive courses and universities," he added.

The University and College Union said the report showed that an expansion of places for students with AAB grades "would most likely be filled by students from the most privileged backgrounds".

The National Union of Students called for changes to the admissions system, to allow university place offers to be based on actual rather than predicted grades, arguing that poorer students were more likely to receive inaccurate grade predictions.

Its president, Liam Burns, also called for more powers for the Office of Fair Access to tackle the "entrenched bias of some universities".

But the Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the report was a "damning indictment" of "Labour's failure to improve social mobility".

"Despite all their promises, they left hundreds of thousands of children with little to no chance of getting to the best universities," he said.

Mr Gibb said the government was tackling the problem by improving schools and targeting funding at the poorest pupils.

The Department for Education said it was planning to publish, from next year, school-by-school data on the proportion of pupils going on to university, as well as destinations of post-16 school leavers.

But critics, including Labour, argue that the government's decision to allow universities to charge up to ?9,000 per year in tuition fees is likely to put off students from deprived backgrounds.

The fees are paid up front by the government in the form of a loan, which is then paid back after the student graduates and is earning above ?21,000 a year.

The Office of Fair Access is due next week to publish the "access agreements" under which universities wanting to charge higher fees commit to targets for recruiting disadvantaged students.

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Study divide

8 July 2011 Last updated at 01:37 GMT By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent Are "intensively parented" London teenagers grabbing all the places? Social mobility and university access are under the microscope again, with the Sutton Trust looking at whether independent school pupils are disproportionately dominating places at top universities.

But what happens if instead of looking at the type of school students come from, you look at where they live?

Admissions figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency and individual universities show that youngsters from London and south-east England are more likely to gain places at England's top universities than their northern counterparts.

Figures for Oxford and Cambridge show that more southerners apply and a higher proportion get places.

In terms of comparable populations, three times as many places go to students from London and the South East as from the North.

When the data is broken down even further, there are some stark figures. At Oxford University more students from China gained places than from north-east England.

Does this mean that the pushy southerners are grabbing all the places? Or is it a case of what's diplomatically described as "intensively parented" London teenagers taking all the prizes?

Top universities, which spend large amounts of time, money and goodwill trying to "widen participation", are likely to sigh wearily at another round of accusations of being socially exclusive.

But what about regional exclusivity? What do the figures tell us about the map of modern England and the wider UK?

In terms of who gets university places, "geography is a better predictor than social class or income", says Professor Danny Dorling of the University of Sheffield and an expert on the north-south divide.

"You're more likely to be able to tell a pathway from a postcode."

Outnumbered

In terms of the overall population of the UK, about three quarters live outside London and south-east England.

But when it comes to getting places at some top universities, the majority becomes a minority.

At Bristol, Cambridge, Imperial, King's College, Oxford, Southampton and Warwick, students from outside the capital and South East are in a minority, according to figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

A higher proportion of top A-level results are gained in London and the South

Overseas students are also now a major part of the student population, overtaking numbers of northern students in some top universities.

At the London School of Economics, UK students from outside London and the South East make up less than 25% of the undergraduate intake. More than 40% are international students.

London and the South East are similar in population size to the combined northern regions of the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside.

But according to entry figures for 2010, northern applicants gained just over 800 Oxbridge places, compared with almost 2,700 taken by students from London and the South East.

There are also over-representations compared with the wider university population. About 26% of university admissions are from London and the South East, but the Oxbridge figure is above 40%.

Regional A-level gaps

There are reasons for such an imbalance. The top universities draw their students from among those with the highest exam grades.

Oxford University has argued that it can only choose from the best candidates who apply - it can't put right the inequalities in the school system.

Oxford University has outreach projects, summer schools and spends ?8m a year in support schemes - and still gets bashed every year for recruiting too narrowly.

It even gets blamed for using the figures it publishes to show that it is transparent in its admissions.

And the figures show the regional geography of educational winners and losers.

In London and the South East a higher proportion of pupils achieve three A grades at A-level - and it follows that pupils from this part of the country will gain more of the most sought-after places.

According to figures from Oxford, about 6,000 students in the North get AAA grades at A-level each year, together with 3,700 in the Midlands - compared to 15,700 from the South and East.

Oxford also points out that many students prefer to attend a university reasonably close to home.

There is also a well-established link between family income and academic achievement - so the greater concentration of wealthier families in the South East and London is reflected in university admissions.

Fitting in

But are there other cultural barriers as well? Perceptions about "fitting in" can be very influential, suggests Frank Furedi, author and professor of sociology at the University of Kent.

He describes a "phenomenally bright" student he knew from north Wales who was offered a place at Oxford but turned it down because "she thought she wouldn't feel comfortable... that it was for southerners".

More students from China got Oxford places this year than from north-east England

Applying to the top universities can depend on "cultural capital", he says. And this can blur the boundaries of state and private education.

"There might be Islington parents with very strong views on independent schools - but who are still part of the mushrooming of private tuition."

These families, with their "intensive parenting", prepare their children to succeed in exams and find university places, he says.

There are other population shifts widening the north-south gap.

The employment market, with more graduate jobs in and around London, brings young university-leavers southwards.

When these graduates settle down and have families, they in turn influence the ambitions of their children, says Professor Dorling.

"Graduates want their children to go to university - and in London and the South East there are a lot of graduates' children," he says.

Aspiring immigrants

Another driving force is that immigrants coming to London, regardless of their own income, are more likely to have aspirations to get their children into university.

And at the top end of the wealth bracket in London, there is a highly-ambitious metropolitan elite leading the chase for the most sought-after places for their children.

Looking at social mobility in terms of private and state schools can also overlook competitive, league-topping, oversubscribed state schools - the type that ring London and its commuter belt.

The admissions data from the Sutton Trust shows some comprehensives in London and the home counties are much more successful than many independent schools at getting pupils into the top universities.

Looking at the comprehensives gaining the most places at the most selective universities, seven out of the top 10 are in the London and the surrounding area.

Among grammar schools getting the highest proportion of places in the most selective universities, nine out of the top 10 are in southern England.

The Sutton Trust says state pupils in Reading, Hammersmith and Fulham, Sutton and Buckinghamshire are more than 50 times as likely to be accepted at Oxford or Cambridge than pupils in Rochdale, Knowsley or Sandwell - and also the inner-London borough of Hackney.

Bucking the trend

But it is not a one-dimensional picture.

There are leading northern universities where the southern contingent is lower than their proportion of the national population, such as Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds.

There is also a distinctly different pattern outside England, with universities such as Glasgow and Queen's Belfast drawing students from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Social Mobility Foundation's chief executive, David Johnston, said that young people from under-represented backgrounds face similar barriers, wherever they live.

"As with all under-represented groups, if you have fewer people from your particular background who are students or academics at such universities, you have fewer people who can share how they made it."

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