Industry News
Private schools securing top uni places
Posted on 27th November 2007
Independent school pupils are securing more places at Britain's top universities than their state counterparts, a survey has concluded.
An annual survey by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) has found the acceptance rate of its member-schools pupils into the so-called Russell Group of universities - the 20 top universities in Britain - rose to 65.6 per cent.
This compares to 62.5 per cent last year.
According to the ISC, analysis shows that gaining three good A-levels is the key to gaining entry to an elite university.
Candidates with a larger number of lower grades did not do as well, even when their results reached the same overall amount of points.
ISC chief executive Jonathan Shephard said: "Our research also shows that A-level point scores can be misleading as a measure of achievement: it is quality, not quantity, that counts."
The Independent reports that over the last five years the percentage of private school pupils achieving the top grade at A-level rose 6.5 per cent to 47.8 per cent.
Among state comprehensives, however, the increase was 2.9 per cent, bringing the total to 19.4 per cent of pupils achieving grade As.
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