• UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
NewsExplored
  • UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • LinkedIn

  • Tumblr

  • RSS

Education

Oxbridge ‘over-recruits from eight schools’

Oxbridge ‘over-recruits from eight schools’
Newsexplored
7th December 2018
ShareTweet
SubscribeRedditGoogleWhatsappStumbleuponPinterestDiggLinkedinTumblrTelegram
Views:
10
Oxford UniversityImage copyright Getty Images

Oxford and Cambridge are being accused of being so socially exclusive that they recruit more students from eight top schools than almost 3,000 other English state schools put together.

The Sutton Trust social mobility charity says the leading universities are failing to attract a wide enough range of talent.

Trust founder Sir Peter Lampl said all young people needed a “fair chance”.

Oxford University said they “very aware” that they “must work harder”.

The study examined Oxford and Cambridge admissions data between 2015 and 2017 and found a handful of schools, mostly private, disproportionately dominating the number of places awarded.

Over- and under-represented

The Sutton Trust says pupils from eight schools filled 1,310 Oxbridge places over three years, compared with 1,220 from 2,900 other schools.

These 2,900 schools were those with historically few admissions to Oxbridge – and accounted for about three-quarters of secondary schools.

Image copyright Getty Images

The charity was using anonymised admissions data – but it says that it believes most of these eight places were private schools plus a couple of big state sixth-form colleges.

The schools are believed to include Eton, Westminster and St Paul’s.

The research also found that high achieving independent school pupils were twice as likely as state school pupils to apply to Oxford and Cambridge, even with the same ability and predicted grades.

The report shows the imbalance in admissions:

data-ad-format="auto">
  • 7% of all UK pupils attend private schools
  • 18% of those taking A-levels are at private school
  • 34% of Oxbridge applications are from private school
  • 42% of Oxbridge places go to private school pupils

The study says there are some parts of the country where particularly few young state-educated people get places.

These include:

  • Halton
  • Knowsley
  • Lincolnshire
  • North Lincolnshire
  • Portsmouth
  • Rochdale
  • Rutland
  • Salford
  • Southampton
  • Thurrock

The study blames a lack of advice and guidance for applicants and calls for better information about what is required for entry and for admissions to take into account young people’s backgrounds.

“If we are to ensure that all young people, regardless of their background, have a fair chance of getting in to our top universities, we need to address the patchwork of higher education guidance and support,” said Sir Peter Lampl.


Image copyright Getty Images

“All young people, regardless of what area they grow up in, or what school they go to, should have access to high quality personal guidance that allows them to make the best informed choices about their future.”

Martin Williams, Oxford University’s pro-vice-chancellor for education, said the university accepted the need to do more to widen access.

“We are very much aware that Oxford must work harder to attract a more representative selection of students from across the UK,” said Prof Williams.

Oxford runs summer schools to encourage more disadvantaged students to apply – and the university says there are plans to attract more students from places where it had recruited few students in the past.

The university says it spends £7m per year on outreach schemes and is promising a new “detailed action plan” with changes to make sure there are places for students of “outstanding potential from all backgrounds”.

A spokesman for the University of Cambridge welcomed the idea that “more support should be made available to students before they choose their A-level subjects and agree there should be more provision of careers advice”.

But Cambridge rejected “lowering grade requirements”, saying this would “place unfair pressure on students and that is something the university cannot support”.

Removing barriers

The Education Secretary Damian Hinds, speaking on Thursday, said that leading universities should accept students with the new technical qualifications, known as T-levels.

He said it would be an “error” to have a “blanket rejection” of young people applying with the new vocational exams, where they were relevant.

Oxford University says it is waiting to see how the T-levels develop before making a decision.

Mr Hinds was launching plans for an overhaul of vocational education – saying such exams needed to be of sufficiently high quality to be held in the same esteem as A-levels and academic qualifications.

“It needs a system which is very high quality, is well invested in, is well accepted – and not everybody passes,” he said.

He warned of a “plethora of mediocre” qualifications that not well understood by either the public or employers but said, he wanted to remove “false barriers” between academic and vocational qualifications and that both could be routes into higher education.

On the Sutton Trust report, Mr Hinds said: “Whilst potential and talent is evenly spread, the opportunities to make the most of it sometimes aren’t.

“Recent data shows progress has been made for disadvantaged students going to university, there is still a long way to go.

“I want universities to work with us, consider the data carefully and look at their own admissions policies to work out what can be done to ensure that their university is open to everyone who has the potential, no matter their background or where they are from.”

Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group of leading universities, said: “We want to recruit students with potential and drive, regardless of background, and we are working hard to improve social mobility.

“There has been progress in recent years but today’s research underlines that this remains a big challenge.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Related Itemseightoxbridgerecruitsschools
Education
7th December 2018
Newsexplored @newsexploredweb

Related Itemseightoxbridgerecruitsschools

More in Education

  • Read More
    LGBT-row teacher in top 10 award

    Views:10 Image caption Andrew Moffat, facing opposition from some parents, has been nominated for an international teaching...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    Warning over cost of caring for young asylum seekers

    Views:10 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Councils say they are struggling to cope with the cost...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    Brexit ‘could risk children’s safety’, warn commissioners

    Views:10 Image copyright Getty Images Children’s safety could be put at risk if the UK leaves the...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    Lecturer’s widow hits out at Cardiff University workload

    Views:10 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionDiane Anderson speaks out over the pressure her...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    Forced marriage: Union warns over ‘criminalising’ teachers

    Views:10 Image caption Amanda Brown says a longer-term approach must be taken, rather than mandatory reporting The...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    When class sizes fall so does teachers’ pay

    Views:10 Image copyright Getty Images Making class sizes smaller sounds like a success story. But an international...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    New curriculum: More school inspections from 2021

    Views:10 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The National Education Union Cymru is concerned about the proposals...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    Will universities go bust if fees are cut?

    Views:10 Image copyright Getty Images There’s a growing expectation that the review of student finance in England,...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    Peterborough University delay ‘a kick in the teeth’

    Views:10 Image caption Degrees could be awarded by the University of Peterborough by 2025 Delays in creating...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    The mother who lost her daughter over an EpiPen

    Views:10 “Three cars showed up in the early hours of the morning and the police were banging...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    ‘Lessons to be learnt’ over older Stoke High School pupil

    Views:10 Image copyright Snapchat Image caption A pupil at Stoke High shared an image on social media...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
  • Read More
    Schoolchildren go on strike over climate change

    Views:10 Schoolchildren across the UK have gone on strike as part of a global campaign calling for...

    Newsexplored 7th December 2018
Scroll for more
Tap
data-ad-format="auto">
NewsExplored

NewsExplored - Making sure all the latest news is explored?

Contact us for help

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • Comments

  • Proxy voting: MPs to trial scheme for pregnant women and new parents
    UK22nd January 2019
  • Prince William says celebrities shunned mental health charity
    UK23rd January 2019
  • Migrants force-fed at Texas detention centre
    USA31st January 2019
  • Antibiotic resistance plan to fight ‘urgent’ global threat
    UK24th January 2019
  • Jussie Smollett charged with filing a false report – police
    USA21st February 2019
  • US Coast Guard officer Hasson ‘planned terror attack’
    USA21st February 2019
  • Hoda Muthana: Trump says IS woman barred from US return
    USA20th February 2019
  • Airport worker killed by exploding tyre in southern California
    USA20th February 2019
  • Les Rehrer says:

    Hello Its me :P and thanks for this post

  • optumrx login says:

    Thank For News.

  • Kent Laatsch says:

    Please let me know if you're looking for a writer…

  • Bob says:

    RT News was where I learned that Erdogan controlled isis.…

Copyright © 2018 Top News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by Wordpress.

YouTube deletes cheating videos after BBC investigation
Grandparents ‘key to tackling youth anxiety epidemic’
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok