Statistics regarding students’ background to be published

David Cameron has announced that all universities are to routinely publish statistical data regarding their successful applicants under new transparency rules.

The statistics are to be broken down by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background of students who secure places at university.

These rules are part of the Government’s anti-discrimination drive which is aimed at prompting institutions to broaden and diversify their intake of students.

These proposed laws make educational institutions, police, and the military, the focus of this drive to tackle social inequality.

Education chiefs have been summoned to Downing Street for talks on the issue with Business Secretary Sajid Javid who stated that these new rules “will highlight where progress is being made and where institutions could do much more.”

Downing Street said in a statement: “Under the proposal, all universities will have a new ‘transparency duty’, part of a drive to highlight those institutions failing to improve access.”

Writing in the Sunday Times, David Cameron said that discrimination should “shame our country and jolt us to action” to make sure that there is not an inadequate representation of ethnic minorities at British universities as well as other establishments such as police and armed forces.

David Cameron wrote: “I don’t care whether it’s overt, unconscious or institutional – we’ve got to stamp it out”.

“Only by working together can we tear down barriers and create a genuine level playing field for those with the potential to study at our world-class universities.”

However, some universities have already responded to the Prime Minster’s proposed plans.

A statement from Oxford University stated that the university did not “see the need” for the proposed legislation and stated that the effects of social inequality were “already pronounced before children begin formal schooling” and could not be addressed by higher education alone.