Report shows entry bar is higher for state-school students and ethnic minorities than for their privately educated peers

Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/3ey93

Top universities face accusations of discrimination

Report shows entry bar is higher for state-school students and ethnic minorities than for their privately educated peers

•  

• Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent
• The Guardian, Tuesday 26 March 2013

Students from fee-paying schools such as Cheltenham Ladies' College were more likely to be offered places at top universities than those from state schools with the same grades. Photograph: Christopher Jones/Rex Features

Pupils from state schools and ethnic minorities are less likely to obtain an offer from one of the country's top universities than their white, privately educated peers even when they achieve the same A-level grades, a study has found.
Research by Durham University that will be published in the British Journal of Sociology in June found that state school pupils needed up to one grade higher than their peers at fee-paying schools to stand the same chance of receiving an offer from members of the Russell Group, the 24 most prestigious universities in the UK.
Dr Vikki Boliver, the author of the study, found that black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils also required up to one grade higher at A-level than their white counterparts to stand the same chance of receiving an offer.
The study looked at 49,000 university applications between 1996 and 2006. The research found state school pupils were as likely to apply to Russell Group universities as their privately educated peers only if they had two higher A-level grades.