University offers to black students plunge by a fifth
OFFERS of a university place to black students have fallen by a fifth – but admissions chiefs deny there is systemic bias.
Last year 41,850 black students were made an offer, a drop from 52,650 places in 2019 according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas).
That compares with 336,860 white students taken on last year. Some 84.6 per cent of white applicants get an offer – the figure for black students is 79.8 per cent.
Officials at Ucas said the differences could be attributed in part to the fact that “black students are more likely to have studied Btec qualifications and live in lowprogression neighbourhoods”.
A spokesman said: “By virtue of where people live and which school people attend, many of these factors are correlated with ethnicity and so, when looking at offer rates, we see large variations across different ethnic groups.”
The service insisted that regardless of background, students “should be confident that decisions about their applications are being made fairly”.
A report by the Social Market Foundation think-tank has stated that black graduates are 12 per cent less likely than white students of comparable backgrounds to gain a first-class degree.
Black graduates also go on to earn less than white, Asian and mixed-race students six months after their course, with only a quarter of black degree holders earning more than £25,000.
Dawid KonoteyAhulu, cofounder and trustee of the 10000 Black Interns project, says colleges and the
Government must widen access and ensure that attainment and outcomes after graduating are considered equally as important. He called the fewer first-class degrees and lower pay “a sad indictment on our society”. He added: “Universities and employers must replicate what has already been done on the issue of gender equality. Make it a priority to identify all the separate issues at the heart of the problem, by collecting data in far greater detail. “They must publish findings, take action to address problems and report regularly.” A Universities UK spokesman admitted that institutions “recognise there is still some way to go” to equality.