Figures published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency have shown a 2% increase in the number of state school pupils gaining places at Oxford and Cambridge this year.
All universities have a benchmark for their intake of state school pupils set by HESA. Despite the increase this year, Oxford and Cambridge are both failing to meet their target for just under 70%. 62% of undergraduate applications to Oxford were from state school pupils this year.
In October 2010, a projected 54.7% of new first-year students at Oxford will be state educated, compared to 53.4% of last year’s intake. Approximately 17% of sixth formers in England are privately educated, but they still make up around 46.7% of Oxford’s undergraduate intake.
Data shows that the majority of Russell Group universities did not meet targets for admitting state-educated pupils. Bristol only admitted 60% against a target of 74.9%, while Durham accepted 59.2% against a target of 74.6%.
The increase in state pupils for the next academic year sees a reversal on last year’s trend, when the proportion of privately-educated pupils at Oxford increased.
Oxford runs 1,500 events aimed at widening participation annually,
with £2.8 million spent on such outreach projects.
A spokeswoman for the University told the BBC, “There are many economic and social factors which can prevent students reaching their full academic potential by 18.
“For our part, we are doing our utmost to encourage academic ambition from a young age by working with students from 11 up, and by working closely with parents and teachers.”
OUSU VP for Academic Affairs and Access, Jonny Medland, commented, “It’s encouraging to see more students applying to Oxford from the maintained sector. Oxford’s increased emphasis on working with teachers and building relationships with schools is crucial for continuing to widen access and ensuring that the most talented students are applying to Oxford.”
Daniel Webb, President of Target Schools, is also encouraged by the rise in state school applications.
He said, “We believe that the main problem facing Access is misinformation about Oxford; the more we demonstrate to school pupils that Oxford is an egalitarian institution, the more we expect the number of state-school applications and places to rise.”
The number of state pupils at Oxford had risen through the 1970s, but had then declined through the 1980s, until beginning to increase again in the late-1990s. The new figure is the highest number of offers for state school students since 2002, but whether this projected increase will match 2002 levels depends on how many of these offers are confirmed.
Oxford still admits few pupils from underprivileged backgrounds despite attempts to boost participation.
HESA defines ‘low-participation neighbourhoods’ as postcodes in which the participation rate is less than two-thirds of the UK average rate. Just 2.7% of full-time undergraduates at Oxford in 2008/09 – around 75 students out of a total intake that year of around 2,875 – were from these disadvantaged areas.
Oxford has recently introduced a system of “contextual data” for widening the range of pupils who are invited to interview, which looks at factors such as the academic level of applicants’ schools and pupils’ postcodes, but stresses that there is no dilution of the standards of the University’s intake.
Medland commented, “”In Oxford, places are awarded on the basis of the student’s intellectual ability and academic potential, not to reach targets.
“However, it’s right that the University continues to develop how to use contextual data in admitting students so the circumstances of individual students are recognised in the admissions process.”
