Warwick admits more female and black students than most universities

Warwick accepts more applications from women and black students than the national average, according to new figures from UCAS.

However, nationally, only 70% of black students were offered university places compared to 73% of Asian students and 78% of white students.

In terms of applications by ethnic group, at Warwick, black applicants have the lowest offer rates, which is consistent with data added up for all UK universities. However, the offer rate is significantly higher at Warwick compared to the UK average, with Warwick’s admission rate at 56.3%, compared to 48% nationally.

The data comes amid questioning of institutional bias at educational institutions in the UK.

Professor Les Ebdon, director of the Office of Fair Access to Higher Education, commented to The Guardian: “admissions data cannot provide conclusive proof that offer-making is biased, but it should certainly prompt universities to investigate their admissions policies and practices if the data suggests that certain groups of students receive unusually low offers”.

In addition to the ethnicity figures, more women than men have been offered places at Warwick for the last two years. At Warwick, the offer rate (proportion of applications receiving an offer) for women stood at 74.0% in 2015 and at 76.1% in 2016.

The difference of 0.2 and 1.9 percentage points respectively between the two genders is in contrast with the data from all UK universities, with the average offer rate for men being 8.3 and 7.7% higher in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Statistics also suggest that across all UK universities, in 2016, an 18-year-old from an area with the highest likelihood of participation to higher education (HE) was 1.4 times more likely to enter university than someone from an area with the lowest likelihood of HE participation.

For Warwick, in 2016, an 18-year-old from an area with the highest likelihood of HE participation was six times more likely to enter than someone from an area with the lowest likelihood of HE participation.

The difference in offer rates between the groups with the highest and lowest participation rates is also higher at Warwick compared to the data from all UK universities, standing at 12.1% compared to 7.8% respectively.