Decline in number of poor students at top UK universities

Less students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds are attending some of Britain’s top Russell Group universities, according to new data published last week.

Nearly a third of Russell Group universities have seen the proportion of students from poor backgrounds drop over the last decade, in spite of frequent claims by ministers that higher education access for disadvantaged youths has improved since tuition fees were raised to £9000 per year.

Oxford and Cambridge had the lowest proportion of students from poor backgrounds, with 10% and 10.2% respectively. Queen Mary’s London scored highest at 37% while Warwick ranked in the lower half at 19.3%.

The average lower income intake at Russell Group Universities has risen by only 1.3% in the last ten years, and remains 16.7% lower than the overall average at other UK universities, 37.5%.

Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Imperial College, Glasgow and Belfast all saw a drop in the proportion of poorer student intake, with Exeter taking the biggest dive at 2.6%. Kings College managed the largest increase (5.7%) and Warwick’s own intake rose by 1.6% since 2004/5.

This data from the Press Association and Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) comes weeks after prime minister David Cameron’s criticism of the lack of social diversity at top institutions. HESA has announced plans to discontinue its measure of social classes.

The 2012 tuition hike stipulated that universities charging this amount must abide legally binding targets for applicants from disadvantaged and poor areas determined by individually tailored agreements with the Office for Fair Access (OFFA).

Today’s figures tell us that we need renewed and concentrated efforts from Government, schools and universities alike to improve participation rates for the poorest students.”
Elliot Major, Social mobility charity spokesman

Despite this provision, statistics show that today 77.2% of undergraduates are from state schools, a just 3.2% increase since 2004/5.

Russell Group director-general Wendy Piatt praised the overall progress made, citing the hundreds of millions of pounds spent each year on financial aid, but added that “while our universities invest a huge amount of time, effort and resources into improving the situation, they cannot solve this problem alone.”

Social mobility charity spokesman Lee Elliot Major said: “It is good to see that the proportion of state school students entering top universities has risen over the past decade.

“However, it is worrying that the access gap between those from poorer backgrounds and their more advantaged peers has actually widened at some universities.”

Universities minister Jo Johnson added: “These figures underscore a worrying lack of progress at some institutions and underline how vital it is that highly selective universities redouble their efforts to reach out to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Mr Johnson also revealed plans for the legislation of improved transparency surrounding the university admissions process.