tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/russell-group-9837/articlesRussell Group – The Conversation2024-02-08T17:16:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230192024-02-08T17:16:27Z2024-02-08T17:16:27ZWhy international students are taking the ‘back door’ route into England’s top universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574357/original/file-20240208-22-fsok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C2986%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/professor-giving-presentation-lecture-hall-university-225178372">Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In January, England’s university leaders had their weekend breakfasts disturbed by an undercover investigation in the Sunday Times. </p>
<p>Using secret film of recruitment agents, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cash-for-courses-the-foreign-students-with-low-grades-at-top-universities-pcskjb6xx">the newspaper reported</a> on a “back door” route which lets international students into <a href="https://russellgroup.ac.uk/about/our-universities/">Russell Group universities</a> with “far lower grades” than students from the UK. Like the Ivy League in USA and Australia’s Group of Eight, these universities figure highly in university rankings and have stringent academic entry requirements.</p>
<p>The “back door” enables international students to enter a year-long foundation course with lower entry grades, then apply for progression onto an undergraduate degree. </p>
<p>The government has responded by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/29/department-education-investigate-recruitment-international-students-uk-universities">commissioning its own investigation</a>. Robert Halfon, minister for higher education, has said he wants to make sure there is a “level playing field” for domestic students. </p>
<p>England’s universities now gain most of their income through tuition fees rather than government grant, and they can charge much higher fees to international students. This is leading to concerns that they are favouring international students through the foundation year route. There has never, though, been a “level playing field” for university entry due to the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/11881">influence of family background on school results</a>. </p>
<h2>Foundation years</h2>
<p>The Sunday Times story focused on bridging programmes, which are usually called <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/advice/what-foundation-year-uk">foundation years</a> in England. These are year-long courses taken after school but before starting an undergraduate degree. They help students improve their academic standing and prepare them for university. </p>
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<p>There are foundation years run by <a href="https://www.intoglobal.com/">independent companies</a> with partnerships and recognition from universities. Russell Group and other English universities also <a href="https://www.foundationyear.cam.ac.uk/">run foundation years themselves</a>, often linked to specific subjects such as <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/2024/medicine/mb-chb-gateway-to-medicine/">medicine</a> and <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/fd/physical-sciences-foundation.aspx">physical sciences</a>. Foundation years are becoming increasingly popular, with the number of entrants <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/foundation-years-statistics/2021-22">increasing</a> from 8,000 to around 70,000 during the last decade.</p>
<p>These courses were initially intended to help two groups of students enter undergraduate degrees. First, English students from less-advantaged backgrounds. These students <a href="https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/annual-report-2023/">gain lower grades overall</a> and are more likely to have <a href="https://www.ucas.com/advisers/help-and-training/guides-resources-and-training/pre-application-support/entry-requirements-and-alternatives-levels#:%7E:text=Vocational%20qualifications%20are%20often%20welcomed,others%20will%20list%20accepted%20qualifications.">vocational qualifications</a> designed for progression into work, rather than academic studies. </p>
<p>And second, international students from educational systems with school-leaving qualifications that are not <a href="https://www.enic.org.uk/Qualifications/SOC/Default.aspx">comparable</a> to those in the UK. </p>
<p>For many years, different governments in England have encouraged recruitment of both groups of students. This has included setting targets for the recruitment of <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cameron-access-targets-major-factor-higher-education-green-paper">under-represented groups</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/apr/18/internationalstudents.politics">international students</a>, and making changes to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/nov/09/socialexclusion.politics">higher education</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49655719">immigration</a> regulations.</p>
<p>By helping less-advantaged students enter university, foundation years increase opportunities and improve the supply of highly skilled graduates. Their attraction of international students also generates tuition fee income for universities and creates connections for trade and diplomacy. These benefits are now being set against perceptions of unfairness, which relate to the use of foundation years by students who have not met the required grades.</p>
<h2>Student recruitment</h2>
<p>During the last decade, the most selective universities in England have <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7857/CBP-7857.pdf">increased their recruitment</a> of domestic students from all backgrounds as well as international students. But this is becoming increasingly difficult due to the level of tuition fees for domestic undergraduates. </p>
<p>The government has increased the maximum fee for domestic students only once in ten years, from £9,000 to £9,250 per year in 2017. In real terms, the fee for each student has <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/publications/annual-report-education-spending-england-2023">reduced by around one quarter</a> in this time. </p>
<p>In contrast, there is no cap on international student fees. These can be <a href="https://study-uk.britishcouncil.org/moving-uk/cost-studying">over £30,000 per year</a>. There are, therefore, much stronger financial incentives to increase numbers of international rather than domestic students.</p>
<p>The “back door” identified by the Sunday Times involves not only foundation year provision for students with qualifications from other countries, but also international students who have gained UK qualifications through independent schools. These students achieve grades below the published entry requirements, then take a foundation year to meet the standard. Universities are recruiting more students through this route because they rely on them to fund domestic student places.</p>
<p>Is this unfair? Many UK families <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/engines-of-privilege-9781526601278/">pay for private schooling</a> and tutoring, and pay for students to re-sit examinations to meet selective university entry requirements. Those from private schools are over <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AccesstoAdvantage-2018.pdf">twice as likely</a> to enter Russell Group universities as students from the state sector.</p>
<p>And this route leads to influence. <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/sutton-trust-cabinet-analysis-2023/">Two-thirds of the current UK cabinet</a> attended fee-paying private schools, compared with 7% of the wider population. <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/elitist-britain-2019/">Research conducted</a> in 2019 found that 87% of cabinet members were Russell Group alumni.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-public-cost-of-private-schools-rising-fees-and-luxury-facilities-raise-questions-about-charitable-status-182060">The public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status</a>
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<p>Notwithstanding this, the perception of unfairness highlighted by the report may be influential. The government wants universities to balance their pursuit of private income from international students with the interests of its own population.</p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://londoneconomics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/LE-Nuffield-Foundation-HE-fees-and-Funding-in-England-FINAL.pdf">the government now funds</a> only £1,600 of the average £10,200 that English universities receive for each domestic student. This 15% contribution cannot adequately represent the level of public interest in the education of the nation’s young people. A new settlement must, then, be a priority for whichever government is in power by the end of 2024.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223019/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Millward is employed by the University of Birmingham, which is a member of the Russell Group. For four years prior to his appointment to the University of Birmingham in 2022, Chris was the Director for Fair Access and Participation on the executive and board of England's higher education regulator, the Office for Students. He has, therefore, been directly involved in the issues addressed by this article. </span></em></p>England’s universities get most of their income through tuition fees, and they can charge much higher fees to international students.Chris Millward, Professor of Practice in Education Policy, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/928632018-03-05T15:48:26Z2018-03-05T15:48:26ZGender pay gap reporting rules should extend to ethnicity and class – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208880/original/file-20180305-65533-pnhss1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All for one?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/directly-above-shot-creative-business-people-344608976?src=mQSuUDyff7xYWPJNcjZZ1Q-3-42">Andrey_Popov</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since the BBC <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-media-policy-means-bbc-pay-inequality-is-likely-to-grow-worse-81411">published</a> the pay of its highest earning talent last July to reveal a big gap between male and female earnings, the issue of gender pay has never been far from the news. We have seen headlines on similar disparities between men and women everywhere from <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/revealed-mps-gender-pay-gap-glzhtb0g7">the houses of parliament</a> to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/43240059">Football Association</a>. </p>
<p>A fuller picture will soon emerge as all UK employers with 250 or more employees <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39502872">have to</a> publish their gender pay gap by April – with the vast majority <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/353e031c-1cad-11e8-aaca-4574d7dabfb6">still to</a> do so. This gender transparency is welcome and the gaps that have already been revealed show major systemic inequalities among UK employers. But the disclosures won’t tell the whole story. Much of the full picture about gender pay will remain obscured, along with other worrying disparities around socioeconomic background and ethnicity. </p>
<p>First a quick word about what gender pay means in this context. It should not be confused with equal pay, which relates to paying men and women the same rate for the same job. Gender pay relates to the difference in total average pay. A company could pay all men and women at the same grade the same amount (so would have equal pay) but could still have a gender pay gap if women are concentrated in lower grade positions with lower pay rates.</p>
<h2>Data drawbacks</h2>
<p>So what’s wrong with the requirements? They will tell workers how male and female pay levels compare at their employer but they won’t tell them how their pay compares with workers at other, similar, firms. The new rules also only apply to firms employing 250 or more employees, so won’t reveal the gender pay gaps in smaller firms.</p>
<p>Take the case of a female chartered accountant. The “big four” international firms which dominate the profession – KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and Ernst & Young – <a href="https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/uk/pdf/2017/12/pay-gap-report-2017.pdf">have</a> already <a href="https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/pwc-reports-its-gender-pay-gap-under-the-governments-new-regulations.html">revealed</a> their <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/press-releases/articles/deloitte-publishes-gender-pay-gap-data.html">gender</a> pay <a href="http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-pay-gap-report-2017/$File/ey-pay-gap-report-2017.pdf">gaps</a>. At these firms, female employees earn 14%-22% less than male employees on average (this is known as the median gender pay gap).</p>
<p>Women are also concentrated in lower levels at these organisations, so are less likely to reach the top and earn the highest salaries. The big four acknowledge this and have all committed to implementing policies aimed at addressing these inequalities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208882/original/file-20180305-65507-1ft0xkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208882/original/file-20180305-65507-1ft0xkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208882/original/file-20180305-65507-1ft0xkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208882/original/file-20180305-65507-1ft0xkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208882/original/file-20180305-65507-1ft0xkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208882/original/file-20180305-65507-1ft0xkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208882/original/file-20180305-65507-1ft0xkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208882/original/file-20180305-65507-1ft0xkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">By all accounts …</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/successful-business-woman-economist-formal-wear-727157914?src=-sgWXj2HWRuhFUfgj-YdNA-1-19">Roman Samborskyi</a></span>
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<p>Outside the big four, the gender gap looks even worse – according to new data just published in <a href="https://www.icas.com">The CA</a>, the monthly magazine of ICAS (the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland). A survey of over 1,200 Scottish chartered accountants working in all parts of the UK, employed across a wide range of sectors and occupations, which we analysed on behalf of The CA, showed a median gender pay gap of 31.8%. </p>
<p>The gaps in financial services and oil and gas are particularly worrying – 38% and 32% respectively. And for all newly qualified female chartered accountants, the data shows an 8% gap. This raises serious questions about frequent arguments that gender pay gaps are because women are more likely than men to work part-time and have career breaks once they have children. </p>
<p>With women comprising a third of ICAS members and just over 40% of trainees, the data reflects what is happening to a lot of people. The females who qualify as chartered accountants have done well at school and nearly all are high flying graduates, so the fact that their gender pay gap starts so early in their careers shows there are systemic challenges that need to be addressed.</p>
<h2>More gaps</h2>
<p>Besides gender, other factors affect pay too. At the 2017 general election, both the <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto">Conservative</a> and <a href="https://labour.org.uk/manifesto/">Labour</a> party manifestos included a commitment to get large employers to report on their ethnicity pay gaps. So far, the government has been preoccupied with other things and there is no prospect of ethnicity pay gap legislation appearing any time soon.</p>
<p>The big four accountancy firms <a href="https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/uk/pdf/2017/12/pay-gap-report-2017.pdf">have</a> taken <a href="https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room/press-releases/PwC-publishes-BAME-pay-gap.html">the lead</a> and <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/press-releases/articles/deloitte-uk-publicly-reported-ethnicity-pay-gap.html">voluntarily</a> published <a href="http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-pay-gap-report-2017/$File/ey-pay-gap-report-2017.pdf">ethnicity</a> pay gap data, however. This shows a gap of between 8% and 13%, which is high if not as high as the gender gap; again these firms have committed to tackling it. New figures meanwhile <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/02/sadiq-khan-vows-action-over-london-public-workers-ethnicity-pay-gap">show that</a> London’s public workers have an ethnicity pay gap of up to 37%. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208886/original/file-20180305-65519-16uo70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208886/original/file-20180305-65519-16uo70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208886/original/file-20180305-65519-16uo70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208886/original/file-20180305-65519-16uo70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208886/original/file-20180305-65519-16uo70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208886/original/file-20180305-65519-16uo70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208886/original/file-20180305-65519-16uo70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208886/original/file-20180305-65519-16uo70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Brown barrier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/handsome-black-business-man-three-employees-552201988">Uber Images</a></span>
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<p>Then there is social background. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8001d074-dcc9-11e6-86ac-f253db7791c6">Research</a> last year by the London School of Economics and University College London for the Social Mobility Foundation showed that a wide range of professionals from working-class backgrounds, including lawyers, accountants, doctors and engineers, earned £6,800 less than more affluent colleagues. </p>
<p>The ICAS data bears this out. Chartered accountants who were privately educated earned on average £12,109 more than their comprehensive school counterparts, a 14% gap. Graduates from the <a href="http://russellgroup.ac.uk">Russell Group</a> of 24 leading UK universities earned £5,500 more than other graduates (a 7% gap). </p>
<p>Those who had a father who had been employed in a higher professional or managerial occupation (such as a doctor, lawyer or chartered accountant) earned £5,000 more than those who came from non-professional or managerial backgrounds (a 6% gap).</p>
<p>In short, the government needs to look again at this area. The rules around gender pay gap reporting need widened. Not only should they include more organisations and make comparisons between them possible, there also needs to be reporting requirements around ethnicity and socioeconomic background. The effects in these areas are substantial enough that there is no justification for focusing on gender alone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92863/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article includes reference to data drawn from an ICAS salary survey published in the March issue of The CA. Catriona is a member of Council of ICAS but the comments in this article are made in a personal capacity and are not made on behalf of ICAS.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Betty Wu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Big new accountancy survey highlights the limitations in UK government’s approach to pay gap reporting.Catriona Paisey, Professor in Accounting, University of GlasgowBetty Wu, Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/643172016-08-24T12:28:45Z2016-08-24T12:28:45ZThe north-south divide in A-levels explained<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135166/original/image-20160823-30209-13w65o3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The north-south divide of the education system.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">bibiphoto/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to A-levels, it is fair to say that some universities view certain subjects more favourably than others. <a href="http://russellgroup.ac.uk/for-students/school-and-college-in-the-uk/subject-choices-at-school-and-college/">Guidance</a> from 24 leading UK universities in the Russell Group identifies eight “facilitating subjects”, so called “because choosing them at advanced level leaves open a wide range of options for university study”. Those subjects are English literature, maths and further maths, along with history, geography, modern and classical languages and the three traditional science subjects.</p>
<p>And with research out earlier this year showing that 30% of university applicants wished they had <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/Studies/university-applicants-are-regretting-the-a-level-subjects-they-took-new-research-shows-a7006436.html">chosen different A-level subjects</a>, it is clear that what students choose to study at A-level can have a big impact on their university experience and future life choices. </p>
<p>But there’s one thing students don’t get to choose when it comes to A-level options, and that’s where they live. Year after year, there are reports of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/aug/15/alevels.schools">north-south divide in A-level results</a>, and this year was no different. Using a fairly crude regional distinction, the latest <a href="http://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels/2016">Joint Council of Qualifications statistics</a> indicate that in 2016 almost half (47%) of A-levels overall were taken by students in the south of England, 29% in the midlands and almost a quarter (24%) in the north. </p>
<p>Of those A-levels, the southern regions saw 26-29% of students gaining the highest A-level grades, while in the midlands and the north the figures were lower at 22-24%. </p>
<p>These figures seem to suggest that if you happen to grow up in the south of England, you are more likely to end up with better A-level results than if you go to school further north. And if the headlines are to be believed, there also seems to be a north-south divide to contend with when it comes to subject choice. Apparently, <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/southerners-do-classics-northerners-do-pe-regional-a-level-figures/">southerners study classics while northerners do PE</a>.</p>
<h2>North vs. South</h2>
<p>While it is true that 56% of students taking A-levels in classical subjects – which covers classical civilisation as well as Latin and Greek – were based in the south, students in the midlands – where 24% took the subject – and the north (20%) were not significantly under-represented in <a href="http://www.jcq.org.uk/examination-results/a-levels/2016">statistical terms </a> compared to other subjects. </p>
<p>The situation was even less clear-cut in PE where southern students were only slightly under-represented at 40%. So it is simply not fair to suggest that an academic practical split exists between the south and the north. Especially given the relatively small numbers of students studying classical subjects – just over 6,000 in 2015. Compare this with the Maths A-level, which was taken by 92,163 students this year. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135345/original/image-20160824-30222-1vez546.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135345/original/image-20160824-30222-1vez546.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135345/original/image-20160824-30222-1vez546.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135345/original/image-20160824-30222-1vez546.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135345/original/image-20160824-30222-1vez546.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135345/original/image-20160824-30222-1vez546.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135345/original/image-20160824-30222-1vez546.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135345/original/image-20160824-30222-1vez546.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A-level subject choice by English region.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCE Entry Trends 2016</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Looking at other subject splits, communication studies was predominately taken by southerners – 64% of students were based in the south, compared with only 8% in the north. Again, this subject was taken by a relatively small number of students – fewer than 2,000 across England. </p>
<p>Similarly, 39% of the 11,272 students who took law were located in the north, with only 33% of students in the south. But it would seem “southerners study communications while northerners study law” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as classics vs. P.E.</p>
<p>These low numbers make the regional variations at subject level essentially meaningless. And combined with the uncertainty caused by the <a href="http://www.aqa.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/policy/gcse-and-a-level-changes/background-to-new-as-and-a-levels">policy changes</a> affecting what students can study at A-level – which are still working their way through the education system – it accounts for a lot of the so-called “regional disparity” in results. </p>
<h2>Bigger disparities</h2>
<p>However, the focus on regional differences in subject choices obscures bigger issues, as the data also reveals that longstanding gender differences in subject choices still persist. </p>
<p>Sociology and psychology are overwhelmingly studied by female students and computing and physics remain predominantly male subjects – which is not the case in <a href="http://www.oecd.org/gender/data/wherearetomorrowsfemalescientists.htm">other parts of the world</a>. And there are also worrying signs of further decline in the numbers of students taking some modern foreign languages – with just <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/08/18/a-level-results-2016-which-subjects-did-students-do-the-best-and/">13,500 students</a> taking French and German this year, down from 18,400 in 2011.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135346/original/image-20160824-30249-1fidruq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135346/original/image-20160824-30249-1fidruq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135346/original/image-20160824-30249-1fidruq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135346/original/image-20160824-30249-1fidruq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135346/original/image-20160824-30249-1fidruq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135346/original/image-20160824-30249-1fidruq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135346/original/image-20160824-30249-1fidruq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gender difference in A-level subjects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCE Entry Trends 2016</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most importantly of all perhaps, the geographical disparities in results suggest that secondary schools in the north and the midlands are still struggling to capitalise on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-close-the-north-south-divide-between-secondary-schools-51607">high levels</a> of excellent primary provision in these regions. Viewed alongside the enduring effects of regional inequality in terms of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/05/22/north-south-funding-divide-sees-children-falling-behind-from-the/">both disadvantage and school funding</a> this is the real cause for concern. </p>
<p>So instead of focusing too closely on marginal differences between subject choices at A-level, we need to start examining what happens during children’s transition between primary school and secondary school – and even before they begin formal education. Because it is clear that for both northern and midland regions something is going awry during this period.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64317/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Jopling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If you happen to grow up in the south of England, you are more likely to actually study A-levels, and will probably end up with better results than if you go to school and study in the north.Michael Jopling, Professor in Education, Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/454732015-08-17T05:33:01Z2015-08-17T05:33:01ZWhy British universities should rethink selecting students by academic ability<p>Britain’s university entrance system, in which students are selected based on their academic grades, is the main reason why efforts to widen access to higher education beyond the country’s upper and middle classes have had only modest success. In England, 18-year-olds from the most advantaged areas are <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEFCE,2014/Content/Analysis/HE,in,England/HE_in_England_2015.pdf">still three times more likely</a> to enter higher education than those from the most disadvantaged areas. Unless the current selection process is abolished, universities will continue to create unequal opportunities and drive social inequality.</p>
<p>Jobs with prestigious law and accountancy firms are dominated by graduates from very selective Russell Group universities, according to a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/434791/A_qualitative_evaluation_of_non-educational_barriers_to_the_elite_professions.pdf">recent report</a> from the UK’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (SMCP). The report’s authors argue that a stratified higher education system is filtering privileged access to these highly remunerated careers. This perpetuates future unequal access by the children of these high flyers to private schools or state schools in “good areas” that feed highly selective universities.</p>
<p>Elite, highly-selective universities, such as the Russell Group, may claim to be <a href="http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/russell-group-latest-news/155-2014/8563-the-economic-impact-of-russell-group-universities/">engines of economic growth</a>, but their role as engines of inequality compromises this claim.</p>
<h2>Problems started post-war</h2>
<p>The roots of this problem lie in how higher education grew after 1945. Expansion was needed for economic recovery after World War II, but existing universities were reluctant to grow if this meant providing vocational courses. Instead, places were expanded in regional technical colleges, institutions that had developed from mechanics institutes and trade schools for local students who could not afford to go to a university. </p>
<p>Starting in 1956, a select group of these were designated as Colleges of Advanced Technology with national intakes. This prefigured the wave of polytechnics created at the end of the 1960s, later <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/sep/03/polytechnics-became-universities-1992-differentiation">granted university status</a> in 1992, among them my own institution, Middlesex University. </p>
<p>As Eric Robinson wrote in his 1968 book, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_New_Polytechnics.html?id=JfIUAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">The New Polytechnics</a>, this was potentially the start of a new vision for higher education based on open entry and lifelong learning rather than selection at entry and just full-time degree study. Robinson wanted the polytechnics to pioneer comprehensive higher education. But this did not happen. Only The Open University, established in 1969 as a distance learning institution, adopted a policy of no academic selection on entry, which <a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/do-it">still stands</a>. </p>
<p>Until 1945 university entry often only required six passes at GCE O level – the secondary school leaving exam. But over subsequent decades tough academic selection came to be seen as a hallmark of quality. Paradoxically, academic selection in secondary education, using the 11-plus exam in the last year of primary education to determine entry to grammar schools, came to be seen as flawed and unfair. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2015">About 90% of pupils</a> now attend comprehensive schools, compared to 8%, mostly part-time students, in what might be described as comprehensive higher education offered at the Open University. </p>
<h2>A divided system</h2>
<p>In effect, a divide continues between “teaching universities” (predominantly the ex-polytechnics) for students disproportionately from low-income households and “research universities” for students from affluent backgrounds – from which the firms in the SMCP’s study recruit. </p>
<p>This polarisation has been seen as an issue by successive governments but only in respect of attempting to increase the number of high-attaining students from low-income backgrounds studying in the very selective research universities. The low number of students from affluent backgrounds in many of the ex-polytechnics receives no policy attention. </p>
<p>Academic selection filters young people into segregated working and social lives but all students may be missing out by being educated in a class-divided system. The evidence that <a href="https://www.routledge.com/products/9780750706209">helped end mass academic selection</a> in secondary education, acted on by Labour phasing our grammar schools following its 1964 general election victory and continued by subsequent Conservative governments, could also be applied to higher education. This evidence suggests that having a mix in terms of both prior attainment and social intake could benefit overall academic results, attendance and course completion rates. </p>
<p>The result would not just be a more inclusive society but a society with higher productivity and economic growth. The government’s recent decision to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25236341">end student number controls</a> in England – allowing universities to accept as many students as they want – is a step in the right direction, but it needs to be complemented by opening up higher education by reforming academic selection.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91585/original/image-20150812-18108-1epec0l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We need to mix students up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucky Business/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is abandoning academic selection practical?</h2>
<p>Just banning academic selection would be difficult: there is likely to be little consensus about alternative recruitment methods, especially in the absence of university catchment areas. But there are steps that could be taken. </p>
<p>Building on the foundation programmes already run by many universities, courses could be required to have entry pathways with two or more entry requirement levels. There could be quotas for the number of students with each of these different levels of prior attainment. They would start at different points depending on their entry pathway and exit at different points such as an honours degree or master’s – but always spend a large part of their course together. </p>
<p>Scholarships could be made available for applicants with high prior attainment who choose to study in non-elite universities where these students are under-represented. This could be funded by a levy on highly selective institutions that would reduce as the policy starts having an impact. </p>
<p>And to end biased perceptions that some universities are better than others that are driven largely by how selective they are, government could legislate for academic credit earned in one university to be transferable to any other, as long as institutions meet quality assurance expectations.</p>
<p>Without tackling the issue of academic selection in higher education, universities are likely to remain part of the problem of inequality and not part of the solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Blackman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By basing their admissions systems on grades, universities are perpetuating social inequality.Tim Blackman, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy and Vice-Chancellor, Middlesex UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/460362015-08-13T15:35:39Z2015-08-13T15:35:39ZNo surprises on A-level results day – and that’s a good thing<p>A-level results day is here and with its dawn have arrived pictures of jubilant young people jumping for joy. The most amount of students ever were accepted into university on A-level results day <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/over-409000-students-already-placed-uk-higher-education-%E2%80%93-3">according to</a> the University and College Admission Service. More than 409,000 students had places confirmed, a 3% rise on 2014. </p>
<p>During the week running up to results day, the exams regulator <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofqual-issues-final-report-into-ocr-summer-marking-2014">Ofqual</a> has attempted to allay concerns about the marking of papers that hang over the process from 2014, and sought to reassure the public about the quality of work provided by England’s examination boards. </p>
<p>But as it turned out nothing much happened in 2015 – which actually comes as quite a relief. All of the papers were marked on time and there were no huge issues <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33760350">like the one in Scotland</a>, where an exceedingly difficult mathematics paper meant a fairly low pass score. </p>
<p>Overall, the percentage of students who achieved each grade did not move much compared to last year – and most subjects remained stable. The number of A-levels taken has risen 2% compared with 2014, from 833,807 to 850,749. This potentially reflects the impending changes to university entry from 2016 and possible future fee increases <a href="https://theconversation.com/abolishing-student-grants-and-raising-fees-above-9-000-heaps-more-debt-on-poorest-students-44485">above £9,000 a year</a>; getting in now may reduce someone’s student debt in the long term. </p>
<p>There are some minor changes to particular subjects, but fears that abolition of the end of January resits would affect the proportion of A* grades has not materialised: the proportion of A* grades awarded stayed the same at 8.2%. The overall pass rate was 98.1%, just a 0.1% increase on 2014. </p>
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<p>Mathematics retains its crown as the most popular A-level (10.9% of all entries) with English in second place, a mere 0.4% behind, and biology taking third place with a 7.5% share of entries. </p>
<p>The proportion of total entries coming from so-called <a href="http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/faqs.aspx">facilitating</a> subjects preferred by Russell Group universities has remained relatively steady and they make up 51% of all entries. However, as the graph below shows there were small increases in geography (up 4,188), history (up 3,717) and English literature (3,393). </p>
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<p>An increase was expected as schools <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ebacc-effect-pushes-pupils-into-more-academic-subjects-thats-a-good-thing-29931">take up the EBacc model</a> which includes English, maths, two sciences, a humanity (history and geography), and languages. With the notable increase in the those taking the largest entry subject, mathematics (up 3,895), it is easy to forget the patchy history of this qualification: in 2001 only 45.4% of all candidates achieved a C or above. In 2015 it was 79.8%. After a <a href="http://www.mathsinquiry.org.uk/report/">review</a> of the syllabus in 2004, trust was regained in the qualification and entry figures have risen consistently year after year. </p>
<p>Although the changes are small, the trends this year suggest that the emphasis by the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, on the Russell Group’s facilitating subjects has, to a modest extent, paid off. </p>
<h2>Critical thinking suffers</h2>
<p>The most prominent negative change has been seen in general studies, with the number of entries down 24.25%. Decreases were also seen in music and law, but neither were as dramatic as general studies. </p>
<p>This year may be the final nail in the coffin for critical thinking at A-level; its entry figures peaked at 2,529 in 2008 but now they are very low (just 236 in 2015). Historically, it has suffered as a result of being lumped with general studies and perceived as a soft option. In reality, there was potential for this subject to be a way to encourage the deeper thinking championed by Gove. </p>
<p>Research by <a href="http://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/109973-critical-thinking-factsheet-3.pdf">Cambridge Assessment</a> found that students who took critical thinking did better across their other subjects. With <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuly-yanklowitz/a-society-with-poor-criti_b_3754401.html">speculation</a> for many years about an English population that lacks the ability to think independently and critically, perhaps critical thinking was a way to challenge this; but that seems unlikely to happen as exam boards, such as AQA, decide to drop it from their syllabuses.</p>
<h2>AS-levels steady too</h2>
<p>At AS-level, the exams taken in Year 12, the penultimate year of school, the results have again remained relatively stable. The percentage of A grades awarded increased 0.3% to 20.2% and A-E increased 0.6% to 89.4%. But as expected – due to the known 2.1% drop in the number of 17-year-olds across the country – the number of AS entries declined 1.9% to 1,385,901. </p>
<p>It will only be in August 2017 that we may see a more dramatic picture at AS level; one which reflects the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gove-generation-first-pupils-to-live-through-a-level-reforms-wait-for-results-45532">decoupling of the AS from the A-level</a> and determines its strength to stand alone against the dominance of the two-year qualification. </p>
<p>The outcomes are stable and so the lack of fireworks this year may help to reduce the annual damage directed against the integrity of our public examinations system every August. Perhaps the broader media could now congratulate all those who have achieved their goals today. Despite the continual questioning of standards, A-levels and AS levels are challenging qualifications. If we deride the results, we deride the ability and efforts of those who have chosen to take these exams; let them celebrate – or commiserate – and move on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The proportion of A* grades has remained the same as 2014 at 8.2%.Mary Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Educational Assessment, UCLTina Isaacs, Programme Leader, MA in Educational Assessment, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/389242015-03-17T14:17:57Z2015-03-17T14:17:57ZHow to give bright but disadvantaged kids a leg up<p>Able young people from disadvantaged backgrounds lose out at every stage in our education system. By the age of five, the poorest children are already 19 months behind their richest peers in how ready they are for school. <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SUBJECT-TO-BACKGROUND_FULL-REPORT.pdf">A new report</a> published by the Sutton Trust has revealed that this gap is cumulative: those who are shown to be bright in national tests aged 11 are barely half as likely as their more advantaged classmates to get the A Levels they need to go to a good university. </p>
<p>For this new report, called <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/SUBJECT-TO-BACKGROUND_FULL-REPORT.pdf">Subject to Background</a>, my colleagues Kathy Sylva, Katalin Toth and I, drew on data from more than 3,000 young people – the majority in state schools – who have been tracked through school since the age of three for the longitudinal <a href="http://www.ioe.ac.uk/research/153.html">Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education</a> project.</p>
<p>Out of this group only 33% of bright but disadvantaged students took one or more A Level exam in what the Russell Group of universities defines as <a href="http://www.russellgroup.org/InformedChoices-latest.pdf">“facilitating subjects”</a> such as maths, English, the sciences, humanities or modern languages. This was compared with 58% of their more advantaged counterparts.</p>
<p>“Bright” students were defined as those children who had obtained Level 5 – the standard expected for 14-year-olds – or above on any of the three “core” subjects, English, maths or science, in national assessments at the end of primary school in Year 6, aged 11. The disadvantaged measure was based on whether a student was eligible for free school meals and their families’ social and economic status – which was linked to parents’ occupations and salary.</p>
<h2>Better chances of success</h2>
<p>But we did identify a number of factors that significantly increased the chances bright but disadvantaged pupils have of gaining good AS and A Level results. Students’ attainment at A Level is generally higher if they went to pre-school – especially if it was a high-quality pre-school. They also achieved better grades aged 18 if they had a good home learning environment in the early years followed up by academic enrichment activities at home, such as going on trips to museums and galleries, and reading for pleasure.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, academic achievement was increased if they had attended an academically effective primary school and a high-quality secondary school. Those who had positive relationships with teachers and regular feedback on their work and learning did better. Independent study matters too. When they get into the habit of doing daily homework in secondary school, students are significantly more likely to go on to get good GCSE results and also achieve three A Levels.</p>
<p>More than anything, the stark differences in A Level attainment that we have identified between different groups of students of similar ability should be a warning that we need to do more to address the inadequacy of provisions for able children in many of our state schools. There is no one solution. A combination of good schools and pre-schools, the right home learning environment and supportive teachers ready to monitor progress and provide good feedback can all ensure that bright but disadvantaged students are more likely to gain the kind of A-level results needed to get the chance of a good university education.</p>
<h2>Vouchers for cultural activities</h2>
<p>Enrichment vouchers, perhaps funded through the pupil premium, should be made available to encourage reading for pleasure, educational trips and out-of-school study for high attainers. Schools should also provide more opportunities for able students to undertake academic enrichment activities when they are not available at home. These could be provided through structured “gifted and talented” programmes, which could help monitor their progress more effectively. We should also ensure a strengthened careers service to encourage all students to make the best subject choices, particularly those that can help them get places at leading universities.</p>
<p>Bright but disadvantaged students should also have more opportunities to go to the best schools – and all children, regardless of financial status, should have access to good-quality pre-school settings with qualified staff. Our research shows how learning experiences affect young people’s chances of academic success from the age of three to 18 and how education can help to ameliorate, but not remove, the adverse effects of disadvantage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pam Sammons has received research funding from a number of organisations including CfBT, the DCSF/DfE, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Sutton Trust. The present research was funded by the Sutton Trust. She is a member of 38 Degrees, the Labour Party and is a fellow of the RSA.</span></em></p>Cultural vouchers for poor kids could help them get better A Levels.Pam Sammons, Professorial Senior Research Fellow, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/344672014-11-21T06:03:17Z2014-11-21T06:03:17ZGrammar schools don’t give pupils a better chance of getting into elite universities<p>The domination of top British universities by people who have attended private schools remains controversial. Defenders of the status quo <a href="https://theconversation.com/gap-between-state-and-private-school-admissions-to-top-unis-due-to-grades-not-bias-30178">would argue</a> that successful applicants to Russell Group universities are simply the brightest and the best, and if a disproportionate number of places at these universities go to people who have been to private schools, that simply reflects the fact that talent is concentrated in these schools.</p>
<p>Others would argue that the best way to provide bright working class kids with the same opportunities as their wealthy peers at private schools is to provide selective grammar schools within the state sector. Earlier this month, <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/533123/David-Cameron-lift-ban-grammar-schools-Tory-MPs">leading Conservative MPs called for the ban</a> on the creation of new grammar schools to be lifted. This was followed by the announcement that plans for the first new grammar school annexe in 20 years had been <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-30001130">revived by Kent County Council</a>.</p>
<p>But how much difference does the type of secondary school a child attends actually make to their chances of going to a top university? </p>
<h2>Private beats grammar</h2>
<p>Our forthcoming study to be published in the December edition of the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/core20/current#.VG4cPcnvbIo">Oxford Review of Education</a>, assessed the link between secondary schooling and university access for the generation born in 1970. We analysed the education histories of more than 7,700 people in England and Wales whose lives are being followed by the <a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/page.aspx?&sitesectionid=795">1970 British Cohort Study</a>. </p>
<p>Children who attended private and grammar schools were generally from more advantaged backgrounds and had higher test scores before they started secondary school than those at comprehensives, so it was important to take this into account. We were able to exploit detailed information on the cohort members’ family backgrounds and educational histories. </p>
<p>This allowed us to examine the role of childhood socio-economic circumstances, and to assess whether the type of secondary school a child attended made a difference for children from similar backgrounds and with similar test scores up to the age of ten.</p>
<p>Once we had controlled for these factors, there was no statistically significant advantage in the chances of accessing a top university for people who had been to grammar schools compared to those who had been to comprehensives. We were very surprised by this result – as it is generally assumed that being at a school with a high-achieving peer group is beneficial. One possible explanation for the lack of an advantage for grammar school children is that high achievers didn’t stand out as much at grammar schools as at comprehensives.</p>
<h2>Double the advantage</h2>
<p>Yet we found a powerful advantage associated with private schooling, especially in the case of gaining an elite degree. The private school advantage is partly explained by better school exam results. But even when we compared people with the same exam results at 16 and 18, respondents who had been to private schools had over double the chance of going to a Russell Group university than people who had attended comprehensive schools. </p>
<p>This debunks the view that the domination of elite universities by the privately educated was justified by the concentration of the pool of talent in such schools. Our findings are in line with <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2014/201403/">longstanding results</a> showing that state educated pupils outperform their comparably qualified privately educated peers once at university. </p>
<h2>Parental influence</h2>
<p>We were also interested in the influence of people’s social background in childhood. We found that having a parent who was a university graduate was linked to far greater chances of university access. And this difference was not simply explained by the children of graduates doing better at school. </p>
<p>Even controlling for cognitive scores and school examination results, people who had a graduate parent had a 50% higher chance of going to university than those whose parents had no qualifications, and the gap was even bigger in the case of access to Russell Group universities.</p>
<p>This research applies to a particular generation born in 1970. But the findings are still relevant today. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-4446.12021/abstract">Recent research</a> has shown that pupils from lower social class backgrounds are still less likely to apply to Russell Group institutions than pupils with similar qualifications from higher class backgrounds. State school applicants are also less likely to apply and to be awarded a place if they do apply, compared to private school pupils.</p>
<h2>Bright not enough</h2>
<p>Our findings show that an individual’s educational attainment throughout childhood and adolescence is very important to their higher education chances – but being bright is not necessarily enough. </p>
<p>Advantaged social origins and private schooling raises the chances of getting a degree, and especially an elite degree, above and beyond test scores and examination attainment. Given the <a href="https://theconversation.com/act-now-on-social-mobility-or-britain-will-freewheel-into-a-permanently-divided-country-33200">domination of Britain’s ruling class</a> by graduates of private schools and elite universities, these non-meritocratic processes have important repercussions.</p>
<hr>
<p>Next read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-do-grammar-schools-boost-social-mobility-28121">Hard evidence: Do grammar schools boost social mobility? </a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/34467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice Sullivan receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).</span></em></p>The domination of top British universities by people who have attended private schools remains controversial. Defenders of the status quo would argue that successful applicants to Russell Group universities…Alice Sullivan, Director of the 1970 British Cohort Study, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/305472014-08-14T16:28:29Z2014-08-14T16:28:29ZAbolishing AS Levels will make it harder to get into university<p>In 2013 the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, and his minister of state for schools, David Laws, <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140430095946/http://www.education.gov.uk/nctl/examsadmin/news/archive/a00217355/alevels">decided to change the A Level qualifications</a> taken by English and Welsh students with academic aspirations. But their reasons for doing so were based on flawed analysis, and the reforms could make it harder for students who flourish in the sixth form to get into university. </p>
<p>Most students currently take GCSE examinations in eight or more subjects at age 16. In the first year of post-compulsory education they are examined in four subjects leading to the award of AS Level grades. These are followed a year later by exams in three (or all four) of them for A2 qualifications. The AS and A2 marks are combined to form an A Level grade.</p>
<p>While A Level results are the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-levels-must-do-more-than-just-prep-students-for-university-28937">most important basis for university entrance</a>, most students apply before they are known: most offers of places are conditional on their getting specified grades. To decide who should receive offers, university admissions officers use the GCSE and AS Level results to assess students’ potential alongside personal statements, school references and teachers’ assessments of likely grades.</p>
<h2>Reforms based on shaky evidence</h2>
<p>This system will end in 2015. A Level courses will then comprise two-year modules, examined at the end of that period only. AS Levels are being redesigned for other purposes, not to be taken by students in their chosen A level subjects. University admissions officers will no longer have quantitative, comparable evidence of students’ post-GCSE performance in subjects central to their university applications.</p>
<p>Admissions officers and others argued that these changes would make identifying those best-fitted to study for their chosen degree courses more difficult. To counter that, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/200903/GCSE_and_AS_level_Analysis_3_1.pdf">Laws commissioned in-house research</a>, on the issue. The results claimed to show that, since degree performance could be as accurately predicted from GCSE as from AS Level results in one student cohort (those graduating in 2011 on three-year degrees), the future absence of AS Levels would not harm the admissions process. </p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/statistically-flawed-evidence-on-the-relationship-between-school-and-degree-performance/">We have challenged</a> the quality of that research elsewhere. Now our further research has used the department for education’s data to show how its results have been misinterpreted.</p>
<h2>Who gets an offer?</h2>
<p>We have placed UK universities into five types according to their average entry requirements: the Russell Group; all other universities founded pre-1992; universities (the ex-polytechnics) founded in 1992; post-1992 universities; and other degree-awarding institutions.</p>
<p>To identify which institutions the “best qualified” students were admitted to, we divided the 80,420 students for whom we had data on GCSE scores in 2006 and AS Level scores in 2007 into two sets of five groups (quintiles) according to their performance.</p>
<p>The table below shows that only 4% of students in the lowest GCSE quintile (the weakest performers) went to Russell Group universities, compared to 75% from the highest quintile. There was a very similar difference between the lowest and highest quintiles according to AS Level results. The common pattern across the table’s two parts apparently sustains the Gove/Laws argument: better-qualified students at either GCSE or AS Level disproportionately gained places in more prestigious institutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56528/original/dxgwbrpb-1408022361.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who is going where</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Bristol</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But note that we said <em>or</em>, not and. Implicit in Laws’s conclusion is a strong correlation between GCSE and AS Level performance. Perhaps surprisingly, there isn’t one. Many students performed relatively badly at GCSE but much better at AS Level (the “late developers”). Others did well at GCSE but not at AS Levels a year later (the “drifters”). </p>
<p>So if admissions officers had only GCSE grades available they may not have offered places to many students whose AS Level results indicated much greater potential to succeed on a degree course than their GCSEs did. Many late developers might have missed out on degree places at prestigious universities.</p>
<h2>AS Levels do matter</h2>
<p>Our <a href="http://policybristol.blogs.bris.ac.uk/2014/08/14/the-abolition-of-as-levels-will-make-assessing-university-applicants-harder-greater-reliance-on-gcse-results-will-penalise-late-developers/">data analysis</a> has gone on to elaborate this conclusion, showing the difference in students’ destinations by GCSE and AS Level qualifications combined. </p>
<p>For example, just 2% in the lowest quintile for both GCSE and AS Level went to a Russell Group university. But of those who got the lowest GCSE grades but the highest for AS Level (the most emphatic group of “late developers”) 30% did. In general, students who performed much better at AS Level relative to GCSE were more likely to obtain a place at an “elite university”. Conversely, those students who didn’t do as well at AS Level relative to GCSE had a greater probability of studying at other institutions.</p>
<p>The department for education analysts and ministers were wrong in interpreting their (flawed) statistical analysis to conclude that university admissions officers gained no additional value in assessing students’ potential from AS Level results. This re-analysis suggests the opposite. </p>
<p>Many students performed relatively badly at GCSE but their improved performance at AS Level a year later may have encouraged them both to apply to more prestigious universities and admissions officers to recognise their potential. Without their AS Level results, many late developers may not have been given that opportunity. Many of them may have been from disadvantaged backgrounds and benefited from <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-stop-worrying-about-university-application-rates-22412">universities’ efforts</a> to expand the number of places offered to those students.</p>
<p>Whatever the political, ideological, or educational arguments for restructuring A Levels, the claim that abolishing the intermediate exams at AS Level would not harm the university admissions process is not sustained by this analysis. </p>
<p><em>Richard Harris, Tony Hoare, Kelvyn Jones and David Manley also contributed to this article.</em> </p>
<p><em>This article was adpated from <a href="http://policybristol.blogs.bris.ac.uk/2014/08/14/the-abolition-of-as-levels-will-make-assessing-university-applicants-harder-greater-reliance-on-gcse-results-will-penalise-late-developers/">a post on</a> the University of Bristol’s Policy Bristol blog.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ron Johnston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In 2013 the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, and his minister of state for schools, David Laws, decided to change the A Level qualifications taken by English and Welsh students with…Ron Johnston, Professor of Geography, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/301782014-08-13T05:21:20Z2014-08-13T05:21:20ZGap between state and private school admissions to top unis due to grades, not bias<p>The UK’s most prestigious universities are repeatedly accused of <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-is-oxford-biased-against-state-students-18979">discriminating against disadvantaged students</a> in favour of those who are deemed to have a social advantage, and particularly those from independent schools. But while it’s easy to blame this on institutional bias, analysis shows it is down to grades rather than social background alone. </p>
<p>A new report for the <a href="http://www.independentcommissionfees.org.uk/">Independent Commission on Fees</a>, set up by the Sutton Trust, found that students from the most advantaged areas of the UK are nearly seven times more likely to enter the UK’s top 30 universities than those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. Refined further for the top 13 universities, advantaged students are nearly ten times more likely to take up a place.</p>
<p>In a recent <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/news/blog/race-to-the-top/">blog</a> post, the Sutton Trust reported that 30% of comprehensive schools have at most one or two students progressing to the prestigious 24 Russell Group universities in 2011-12. At the same time, the independent schools Westminster, Eton and St Paul’s, together with top state sector colleges Hills Road College, Cambridge and Peter Symond’s College, Winchester got about 260 students into Oxbridge. </p>
<h2>Who’s getting in?</h2>
<p>Recent research has tried to look at whether prestigious universities are actually shunning students from the state sector in favour of independent school students.</p>
<p>The results from <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3152/abstract">a recent study</a> of over 10,000 university first years using 2011 data from the <a href="http://www.youthsight.com/">YouthSight</a> survey, show that a student at a Russell Group university is likely to be from the ABC1 social status group – the highest band in the national A-E scale where “A” represents highest social class and “E” the lowest. </p>
<p>Their parents are most likely to be in professional or senior management jobs, and to have also been to university. Parental education affects college and university choices, and parents who stayed in education longer are more than twice as likely to have children who <a href="http://ideas.repec.org/p/van/wpaper/0302.html">enter a research university</a>. </p>
<p>But the study results also reveal that students from these groups gain significantly higher qualifications or entry scores based on the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) <a href="http://www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/explore-your-options/entry-requirements/tariff-tables">points system</a>. UCAS point scores are calculated with A Level grades and equivalent qualifications and are used in the admissions process of UK universities. Although most top universities use A Level grades such as A*AA or AAA rather than UCAS point scores to make offers, these scores still provide a consistent way of measuring pre-university achievement. </p>
<p>Students in the study who attended Russell Group universities had significantly higher UCAS scores than students attending other institutions, which is not surprising because of their higher entry requirements.</p>
<p>But students from private schools also had significantly higher average UCAS scores compared with state sector students: 408.7 points compared with 380.7 for state school teenagers. In contrast, students from disadvantaged backgrounds had significantly lower average UCAS scores – 341.3 – compared to their peers, who had 399.1 points. Black students, <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-why-arent-there-more-black-british-students-at-elite-universities-25413">another under-represented group at university,</a> also had lower average UCAS scores at 284.88.</p>
<h2>Increase attainment from state schools</h2>
<p>But universities, including the top ones, are not simply shunning students because of social status or the school they attended. Rather it’s that lower levels of achievement at an earlier stage in students’ schooling prevent many disadvantaged students from achieving the high entry grades required to gain entry to Russell Group and highly ranked universities. </p>
<p>Evidence indicates that efforts need to be made to increase achievement in a wider range of schools, particularly state-funded schools and colleges, to enable talented and highly motivated young people to gain the A and A* grades they need to attend the best institutions.</p>
<h2>Private schools reaching out</h2>
<p>Some efforts are under way to address these imbalances. First, one of the country’s top private schools, Westminster School, is working with the <a href="http://www.harrisfederation.org.uk/">Harris Federation</a> to jointly <a href="#ixzz39nOEqSAL">open a sixth-form academy</a> which aims to offer pupils from poor backgrounds a route to Oxford and Cambridge. </p>
<p>Second, Eton College also offers their expertise and gives support to more disadvantaged state school students by offering Eton’s boarding house runs a <a href="http://www.etoncollege.com/USS.aspx">summer school</a> to recreate the Oxbridge experience and improve students’ self-confidence and social skills. The summer school is aimed at state-school pupils who aspire to Oxbridge. </p>
<p>Third, ten leading universities are also working together with the Sutton Trust to offer <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/programmes/uk-summer-school/">summer schools</a> to bolster confidence, maximise talent, give practical advice and boost exam scores to enable gifted and motivated young scholars to gain entry to the top institutions. Entry to these summer school programmes is based on strict selection criteria to identify the brightest students from the toughest backgrounds. </p>
<p>The key in all these schemes is to identify and invest in talented young people to give them support to gain the high grades and scores they need to get into top institutions. But it’s also about making sure students have the right guidance and information, and the self-confidence to make a bid to enter our prestigious universities. This is in the best interests of not only the young people themselves, but top institutions who seek to recruit the best qualified students. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Hemsley-Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The UK’s most prestigious universities are repeatedly accused of discriminating against disadvantaged students in favour of those who are deemed to have a social advantage, and particularly those from…Jane Hemsley-Brown, Professorial Teaching Fellow in Marketing, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/285602014-06-30T04:51:41Z2014-06-30T04:51:41ZBright, poor students less likely to get into elite universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52465/original/327grmp6-1403875311.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jump for joy but not always so high. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/centralsussexcollege/9517992502/sizes/l">Central Sussex College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Only 3% of able students from poorer backgrounds are likely to end up at an elite university, according to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smcpc-research-on-attainment-of-disadvantaged-children">new research</a> on the impact of education on social mobility. This is compared to 10% of students overall. But poorer students are actually getting into elite universities with lower A-level grades than their richer counterparts. </p>
<p>Education, particularly at university-level, is a major route to success in the labour market and is one of the main drivers of social mobility. It is essential we understand how to improve the chances of poor but able students attending higher education and specifically achieving access to the most high status universities.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smcpc-research-on-attainment-of-disadvantaged-children">research</a> funded by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, Claire Crawford at the University of Warwick, Lindsey Macmillan from the Institute of Education and I investigated the pathways that able children from different socio-economic backgrounds take on their route to higher education.</p>
<p>We focused on those poor children who, against the odds, succeeded in making their way into a high status university, building on research which has documented the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0335.t01-1-00272/abstract">stark socio-economic gaps in pupils’ achievement</a> at every stage. Previous <a href="http://onlinelibry.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2012.01043.x/abstract">research has also looked</a> at these issues on widening participation before, but not with the same data. </p>
<p>We defined high-status institutions as those in the Russell Group or with similarly strong research profiles, as measured by the Research Assessment Exercise. We used administrative data on a cohort of children born in 1991–92 and we were able to follow them through the education system into higher education.</p>
<h2>Falling behind on qualifications</h2>
<p>The socio-economic gaps in achievement are stark. Overall, around one in ten students attends a high status university, using our definition. By contrast just less than 3% of poor students who claimed free school meals throughout secondary school go to an elite university. </p>
<p>But this very large discrepancy is almost entirely explained by the fact that poorer students do not do as well as their richer counterparts throughout the education system and <a href="https://theconversation.com/gcse-attainment-crucial-for-widening-participation-in-higher-education-27752">fail to attain the necessary qualifications</a> at A level to access such institutions. </p>
<p>Earlier in the education system, only just under 9% of the most deprived children reach level 3 in both reading and maths at Key Stage 1. This is compared with 27% of the least deprived children. At Key Stage 2, 7% of those who always claim free school meals attain level 5 in English and maths, compared with 19% of those who do not always claim free school meals. </p>
<p>Our research also suggests that while high achieving children from well-off families continue on their high attainment trajectory throughout their education, equally able children from poorer families fall off this trajectory particularly between ages 11 and 16. </p>
<p>This results in fewer deprived children getting good grades at GCSE and continuing on to post-16 and higher education. We concluded that this means secondary schools have a vital role to play in protecting and enhancing the performance of all children who are high attainers at primary, particularly those from the most deprived backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Getting in with lower grades</h2>
<p>Poor students who do succeed in making it into a high status university actually have lower A level grades than their more advantaged peers who also attend such institutions. </p>
<p>Of those who enrol in an elite university, 47% of the most deprived children achieve at least three A or B grades at A level, compared with 73% of the least deprived children. This finding is only partially explained by the fact that poorer students tend to attend the less elite universities (that have lower grade requirements) within this group of higher status institutions. </p>
<p>There are two main explanations as to why poorer students in elite institutions have slightly lower A level grades. It may be that richer students exceed the university minimum A level grade requirement by more than poorer students, effectively over-shooting on what universities ask of them. </p>
<p>Alternatively, it may mean that some universities are taking account of students’ contexts when making grade offers: they may acknowledge that some students have more disadvantaged circumstances and so offer them lower grades. </p>
<p>Further research is needed to understand which of these explanations is more likely, but either way this implies that children from more deprived backgrounds can afford to be more ambitious and increase their rate of application to elite institutions. </p>
<p>It is therefore important that schools, universities and policymakers do everything they can to provide the support and advice poor students need to make applications to higher status universities: those with the top grades stand a good chance of getting in if they do apply. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28560/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Vignoles, Claire Crawford and Lindsey MacMillan received funding from The Commission for Social Mobility and Child Poverty for the underlying research.</span></em></p>Only 3% of able students from poorer backgrounds are likely to end up at an elite university, according to new research on the impact of education on social mobility. This is compared to 10% of students…Anna Vignoles, Professor of Education, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/254132014-04-09T11:03:12Z2014-04-09T11:03:12ZHard Evidence: why aren’t there more black British students at elite universities?<p>Young people from black British backgrounds <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/jul/23/white-pupils-university-ethnic-groups">are more likely</a> to go to university than their white British peers, but they are much less likely to attend the UK’s most selective universities. </p>
<p>As the Independent Commission on Social Mobility pointed out: “There are <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/80188/Higher-Education.pdf">more young men from black backgrounds in prison</a> in the UK than there are UK-domiciled undergraduate black male students attending Russell Group institutions.” </p>
<p>According to data from the 2011 census and from statistical breakdowns released to The Conversation by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, black Britons of Caribbean heritage make up 1.1% of all 15 to 29-year-olds in England and Wales and 1.5% of all domestic students attending UK universities in 2012-13. In contrast, just 0.5% of domestic students at Russell Group universities are from black Caribbean backgrounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45871/original/xyj952vj-1396964830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45871/original/xyj952vj-1396964830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45871/original/xyj952vj-1396964830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45871/original/xyj952vj-1396964830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45871/original/xyj952vj-1396964830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45871/original/xyj952vj-1396964830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45871/original/xyj952vj-1396964830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45871/original/xyj952vj-1396964830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Breakdown of university students by ethnicity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HESA & Census Data</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Regardless of the type of university attended, students from black and certain other ethnic minority backgrounds <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2014/201403/#d.en.86821">are less likely</a> to receive a first or upper second class degree than white students who enter with the same A-level grades. Black people are also <a href="http://absentfromacademy.co.uk/">severely under-represented</a> among university professors.</p>
<p>These worrying facts are currently the subject of an <a href="http://www.runnymedetrust.org/news/492/272/APPG-Inquiry-on-Race-and-Higher-Education.html">All Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Race and Higher Education</a>, led by David Lammy MP.</p>
<p>So why aren’t there more black British students at highly selective universities? And why, for that matter, are British-Pakistani and British-Bangladeshi students similarly under-represented in highly selective UK universities? </p>
<p>One major reason is that young people from black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds are <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accuracy-of-predicted-a-level-grades-2010-ucas-admission-process">less likely to achieve</a> the grades required for entry to highly selective universities, which accounts for their lower rates of application to these universities.</p>
<p>However, another important part of the story is that when young people from black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds apply to highly selective universities, they are <a href="https://www.dur.ac.uk/sass/staff/profile/?mode=pdetail&id=9700&sid=9700&pdetail=76705">less likely to be offered places</a> than their comparably qualified white peers.</p>
<h2>Offer rates examined</h2>
<p>Let’s look first at the raw statistics on admission to the UK’s most selective universities, Oxford and Cambridge. In 2011, <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/statisticalinformation/admissionsstatistics/Undergraduate_Admissions_Statistics_2011.pdf">offer rates at Oxford University</a> were significantly higher for white applicants (24%) than for black Caribbean (18.9%), Pakistani (4.9%) and Bangladeshi (9.9%) applicants. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/publications/docs/admissionsstatistics2012.pdf">offer rates at Cambridge University</a> in 2012 were significantly higher for white applicants (30.8%) than for applicants from black Caribbean (18.9%), Pakistani (15.7%) and Bangladeshi (16.9%) backgrounds. </p>
<p>These are the most up-to-date figures available as neither Oxford nor Cambridge has published ethnicity-specific offer rates for more recent admission cycles. </p>
<p>The Russell Group as a whole doesn’t publish its admissions statistics, but according to my calculations based on UCAS data for 2010 to 2013, the same basic pattern holds. Offer rates were around twice as high for white applicants (54.7%) as for applicants from the black Caribbean (23.3%), Pakistani (30.3%) and Bangladeshi (31.2%) groups. </p>
<p>Of course, the raw statistics don’t tell us anything about the academic suitability of applicants for their chosen courses. A more sophisticated analysis is needed for that.</p>
<h2>Interrogating the data</h2>
<p>In my own research on <a href="https://www.dur.ac.uk/sass/staff/profile/?mode=pdetail&id=9700&sid=9700&pdetail=76705">admission to Russell Group</a> universities I analysed data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). I found that ethnic group differences in offer rates remain substantial even after taking into account applicants’ A-level grades, whether they had studied any of eight “<a href="http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/informed-choices/">facilitating subjects</a>” at A-level, and their chosen degree subject area. </p>
<p>The Russell Group has <a href="http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/russell-group-latest-news/154-2013/5485-russell-group-comment-on-access-research/">responded to this research</a> by arguing that ethnic minority applicants have lower initial offer rates than white applicants with the same A-level grades because ethnic minorities are less likely to have studied the specific A-level subjects required for entry to their chosen courses. </p>
<p>They also cite <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwoxacuk/localsites/gazette/documents/statisticalinformation/admissionsstatistics/Undergraduate_Admissions_Statistics_2011.pdf">research conducted by Oxford University in 2011</a> which suggests that offer rates are lower for ethnic minorities than for comparably qualified white applicants because ethnic minorities tend to apply to heavily oversubscribed degree subjects such as medicine or law. </p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/small-russell-group-racial-bias-in-admissions-ucas/2003594.article">in-house analysis</a> of the data by UCAS also reportedly found that ethnic differences in degree subject choices were a significant part of the reason for ethnic disparities in offer rates at Russell Group universities. </p>
<p>But neither UCAS nor the Russell Group have published detailed statistics to support claims that the A-level subjects and degree subjects chosen by ethnic minorities explain why their offer rates are lower than for white applicants with the same grades.</p>
<p>The suggestion that ethnic minorities have lower offer rates because they apply to more popular courses is at odds with data obtained via Freedom of Information requests from <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/feb/26/oxford-university-ethnic-minority-applicants">Oxford University</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/mar/13/cambridge-university-medicine-admissions-race">Cambridge University</a>. These revealed much lower offer rates for ethnic minority applicants to medicine – a heavily oversubscribed course at both universities – even for those with three A* grades at A-level.</p>
<p>The truth is that we are not entirely sure why there aren’t more black British students at highly selective universities. Their under-representation is undoubtedly caused by multiple factors in a multi-stage process that begins long before the age of 18. But we would surely get closer to the answer, and perhaps even a solution, if UK universities were to grasp the nettle and publish detailed and transparent analyses of their applications and admissions data.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/hard-evidence">Hard Evidence</a> is a series of articles in which academics use research evidence to tackle the trickiest public policy questions.</em></p>
<p><em>Related: <a href="https://theconversation.com/race-and-academia-diversity-among-uk-university-students-and-leaders-24988">Race and academia: diversity among UK university students and leaders</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25413/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vikki Boliver received funding for her research from The British Academy.</span></em></p>Young people from black British backgrounds are more likely to go to university than their white British peers, but they are much less likely to attend the UK’s most selective universities. As the Independent…Vikki Boliver, Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.