Drop in state school pupils going to Oxbridge blamed on pandemic

Times

19 hours ago

There were fewer state school pupils admitted to Oxford and Cambridge this academic year, new figures show.
Both universities saw a decline in the proportion of their intake from state schools and an increase in those who were privately educated.
Oxford's UK state school admissions were at the lowest since 2019, falling from 67.6 per cent in 2023 to 66.2 per cent in 2024 while private school intake increased from 32.4 per cent to 33.8 per cent.
Of UK students at Cambridge, 71 per cent came from state schools in autumn 2024, down from 72.6 per cent in 2023, while the proportion from independent schools increased from 27.4 per cent to 29 per cent.
A breakdown of Cambridge figures showed 18.8 per cent of those who applied from state schools were successful — 15.9 per cent of applicants from comprehensive schools were admitted compared with 24.4 per cent from grammar schools. For independent schools, the success rate was 21.6 per cent.
Both universities said the pandemic had affected their state school intake in recent years. Cambridge said its long-term trend remained positive and Oxford said it had taken more pupils on free school meals.
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Dr Martin Thompson, director of undergraduate admissions at Cambridge, said the figures came after a period of rapid growth in state school admissions and remained above pre-Covid levels, when the state school intake was 68.7 per cent.
He said: 'We remain fully committed to widening participation. We saw several subjects become much more competitive. Students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and state school students, are more likely to apply to these courses. The secondary school sector [is] still grappling with disrupted education and attainment gaps.'
An Oxford University spokeswoman said that access for those from disadvantaged backgrounds was a priority and that the number of students who had been entitled to free school meals had increased to 8.1 per cent.
She added: 'Factors such as socio-economic disadvantage and school performance can make it difficult for some students to access their full potential before applying to university, and therefore we use a range of contextual information to help us to better understand students' achievements.'
More women were admitted to Cambridge, with the proportion up from 50 to 52 per cent. At Oxford, the proportion of women admitted fell from last year but was still at 51.9 per cent.
China was by far the biggest provider of students from outside the UK, with Cambridge taking 252 students from China and Oxford 566. At both institutions, this was followed by Singapore and Hong Kong.
However, applications from both EU students and the rest of the world had fallen from last year at Oxford.
Cambridge said that applications from EU students fell slightly but increased from the rest of the world.
Far more ethnic minority students were admitted than previous years, accounting for 30.8 per cent of those taken at Oxford and 35.1 per cent at Cambridge.
Oxford has seen a sharp increase in applications from students of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage, from 2 per cent of all UK students in 2020 to 3.2 per cent in 2024. The proportion of black African or Caribbean students is only marginally higher than last year, at 3.8 per cent.
The most competitive course at Oxford was economics and management, with 19 applications per place, followed by computer science and maths and computer science. Psychology, law and computer science were among the courses with the highest intake of deprived students while classics, geography and biomedical sciences were the lowest.
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The most competitive courses at Cambridge were its graduate medicine course, computer science and psychological and behavioural sciences.
Those with the highest entry rates for applicants included classics, modern and medieval languages and music, but they also had very low numbers from deprived backgrounds.
Of those admitted to Oxford, 85.6 per cent were awarded A*AA or better at A-level and 45.5 per cent achieved at least three A* grades.
At Cambridge, 17.7 per cent of arts students and 39.3 per cent of science students achieved three A*s. A further 5,600 unsuccessful students went on to achieve at least A*AA in their three best A-levels.
The average amount owed by new graduates has broken through the £50,000 barrier for the first time, new government figures show. Graduates now owe an average of £53,000 as soon as they start repaying their loans, up from £48,270 a year ago.
The total amount owed to the government is £266 billion, by students who took out higher education loans in England.
Graduates now repay 9 per cent of their salary once they earn above £21,000 and the loan is not written off until 40 years after they start paying.