More state-educated pupils on Cambridge reserve list get the nod

THE University of Cambridge was twice as likely to offer a “winter pool” place to a state school pupil than a private school pupil last year, its admissions data have shown.

Strong applicants to oversubscribed colleges are placed in the winter pool, which accounts for around a fifth of all undergraduate offers.

Private school pupils had an eight per cent rate of success in the pool last year, compared to 16 per cent of state school applicants, according to admissions statistics published this month.

The gap has widened significantly compared with the previous year, when private school applicants placed in the pool had a 15 per cent success rate, versus 19 per cent of state school pupils.

It comes as the overall proportion of private school pupils given offers by Cambridge fell to a record low of 28.4 per cent, down from 29.4 per cent in the previous year, marking the ninth consecutive year of declines. Prof Stephen Toope, vice-chancellor of Cambridge, warned in May that private schools must accept that they will place fewer students at Oxbridge. He said that the “premium” attached to independent schooling was in decline.

Nadhim Zahawi, the former education secretary who recently succeeded Rishi Sunak as Chancellor, said Britain should be “proud” of its private schools and not “tilt the system” to ensure more state pupils get into Oxbridge.

Almost 23,000 students applied for 3,660 undergraduate places at the university last year. In contrast to the gap in success rates for state and private school pupils in the winter pool, pupils receiving a direct offer from colleges had an equal chance of around 20 per cent.

Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council and a former head of Harrow, said: “We know that independent school students at Cambridge are more likely to obtain a first-class degree than other students. It would seem sensible for the university to encourage top applicants from all types of school, but that will only happen if they are treated fairly regardless of background – and that includes the use of the pool.”

The university was accused by one of its own professors earlier this year of discriminating against white private schoolboys. Prof David Abulafia, a fellow of Gonville and Caius College, claimed that if they are placed in the pool, they “nearly all sink without trace”.

He told The Daily Telegraph that the new statistics “hide as much as they reveal, but the rejection of really excellent candidates from independent schools in the winter pool is reflected in their relatively low success rate”.

A university spokesman said the winter pool “aims to ensure that the strongest applicants overall are made offers”.