Industry News
Oxbridge 'still recruit from private'
Posted on 15th October 2007
Top universities are being accused of still recruiting a disproportionate number of students from private schools.
Oxford and Cambridge universities made an agreement with the Office for Fair Access in which they promised to increase the number of students who attended state schools by 2011.
However, the Institute for Public Policy Research claims they will miss that deadline if they continue making progress at the current rate.
Private schools account for only seven per cent of the population yet the two universities recruit 40 per cent of their pupils from them.
Mike Nicholson, Oxford's director of admissions, told the Telegraph that both universities made an effort to encourage state school pupils to consider the opportunities they offer.
He said: "If they choose not to apply, that is the only certain guarantee that they are not going to get in."
Last month the Sutton Trust published research which showed 100 "elite" schools accounted for one third of Oxbridge admissions. It found 80 of those top schools were independent.
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