Oxbridge accused of ‘social apartheid’ over admissions

THE Oxbridge universities have been accused of a “social apartheid” by a Labour MP who obtained figures which he said showed they draw their students from a “privileged minority”.

Labour MP David Lammy, the former higher education minister, said the red brick establishments were “complacent” over diversity after obtaining the figures through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

The data also shows that between 2010 to 2015 only three of Oxford’s 32 colleges made an offer to a black A-level applicant every year.

Oriel college made just one offer during that same period to a black student. Meanwhile figures for Cambridge University reveal that for each of the six years, on average, a quarter of colleges failed to make any offers to black British applicants.

Fewer than 1% of offers went to Pakistani applicants, and in 2015, 14 of Cambridge’s 29 colleges did not make a single offer to a Pakistani applicant.

Mr Lammy said the numbers reveal that Oxford and Cambridge are hugely unrepresentative of the country, and is calling for reforms to the Oxbridge admissions process.

“This is a social apartheid,” he said. “Overall, the picture painted by this data is of two institutions that overwhelmingly draw their students from a privileged minority in the South of England and are complacent at best about taking steps to widen participation and access.”

Mr Lammy said there are nearly 400 black students getting three As or better at A-level every year.

“Difficult questions have to be asked, including whether there is systematic bias in the admissions process that is working against talented young people from ethnic minority backgrounds,” he added.

The data obtained through Mr Lammy’s FOI also shows that 48% of Oxford offers went to applicants from London and the South East, compared to 15% from the North, 11% from the Midlands and 3% from Wales. More than 48% of Cambridge offers went to applicants from London and the South East, in contrast to 17% from the North, 12% from the Midlands and 2% from Wales.

Oxford university said students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds made up 15.9% of its 2016 UK undergraduate intake, up from 14.5% the year before.

Cambridge said its admissions decisions are based on academic considerations alone.