Ucas has pledged to reach out to representatives of ethnic minority groups following allegations of “racial profiling”.
The news comes after figures released under Freedom of Information rules revealed that black students are 22 times more likely than their white counterparts to have their university applications flagged for possible fraud by the admissions service.
The data showed that between 2013 and 2017, 52% of applications investigated for potential fraud were made by black students, despite them representing only 9% of total applications.
By comparison, just 19% of applications made by white students were flagged, even though they made up 73% of total applicants. Asian students made up 16% of flagged applicants, while representing 11% of total applicants.
This means that while one in every 102 black applicants is investigated for fraud, only one in every 2,146 white applicants is flagged by Ucas’ system.
The service has pledged to reach out to representative organisations to “strengthen the voices of black, Asian and minority ethnic students in our decision-making and processes.”
They also said they had made enhancements to its fraud detection process to reduce the risk of “false positives”.
