Higher Education: Admissions
(asked on 4th June 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of (a) the proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and (b) the number of BAME students entering higher education in each of the last three years.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publish data on the proportion of 18 year olds entering full-time undergraduate higher education by disadvantage and ethnic group here: https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/ucas-undergraduate-analysis-reports/ucas-undergraduate-end-cycle-reports.
The requested information is summarised in the tables below.
Table 1 – Entry rates for English 18 year olds by POLAR quintile, a measure of educational disadvantage.
POLAR Quintile | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Q1 - Most Disadvantaged | 18.5% | 19.5% | 20.4% |
Q2 | 25.1% | 26.2% | 26.9% |
Q3 | 30.5% | 31.5% | 32.5% |
Q4 | 36.2% | 37.2% | 37.6% |
Q5 - Least Disadvantaged | 44.9% | 46.3% | 47.1% |
Table 2 - Entry rates for English 18 year old state school pupils by ethnic group
Ethnic Group | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Asian | 42.3% | 44.1% | 45.8% |
Black | 38.4% | 39.1% | 40.4% |
Chinese | 61.0% | 60.8% | 63.0% |
Mixed | 32.3% | 33.4% | 34.0% |
White | 27.9% | 28.9% | 29.3% |
Any other ethnic group | 36.8% | 38.0% | 40.1% |
The data shows disadvantaged 18 year olds and those from a BME background are more likely to enter full-time undergraduate courses than ever before.
Entry rates have been provided as they take account of demographic changes, enabling direct comparison over time and between different ethnic groups. However, data is also available on the number of students (of all ages) entering higher education by ethnic group and UK country of domicile who applied by the UCAS June application deadline here: https://www.ucas.com/file/139481/download?token=X4hqD5Ms.