Every so often a new study tells us privately-schooled pupils perform worse at university than their state-schooled peers, or that there are huge gaps in attainment across measures of disadvantage, gender and ethnicity. Perhaps the most significant gulf, however, lies between students who arrive holding A-levels and those who have graduated with BTECs. Using data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency research shows that, over the past 10 years, 6% of students arrived at university exclusiv...

Children from deprived backgrounds face the worst prospects in some of the richest parts of the country, according to a damning new study that lays bare deep geographical divisions across Britain. An annual report by the government’s own social mobility watchdog warns that while London and its suburbs are pulling away, rural, coastal and former industrial areas are being left behind. Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Commission, highlighted how the Brexit vote made the geographical di...

Universities have been actively trying to increase the diversity of their student body for some time. At one end of the scale lies Oxford, where it was recently revealed that one in three colleges failed to admit a single black student in 2015. At the other end are many institutions in London, which collectively educate the majority of BAME students. Enrolled in the city’s universities are twice as many pupils who were eligible for free school meals as the next best-performing region, the highes...

When Fatima Afzal was offered a chemical engineering job in the US, she worried what it would be like to transfer to a country where people might never have seen a British Muslim before. She moved, and found her suspicions confirmed in an environment dominated by “very big alpha males”. It was challenging, but she coped. She credits her confidence to a placement year spent abroad, in Malaysia, during her undergraduate degree at Aston University: “If I hadn’t taken that first step I would be clos...

David Lammy’s revelation about Oxbridge’s “apartheid” raises many pertinent issues, but yet fundamentally misses the point. As a current third-year student at Keble College of ethnic minority and state school background, I would argue that while the statistics presented are shocking, Oxford is not solely to blame.  Seven years have changed nothing at Oxbridge. In fact, diversity is even worse David Lammy Read more Statistics are the basis of Lammy’s argument but he of...

Rising tuition fees for college higher education could deter ‘debt averse’ students from signing up Given the fury that greeted the government’s decision to triple higher education tuition fees, it took a surprisingly short time for £9,000 a year to be accepted as the going rate for universities. But Labour’s general election campaign pledge to axe fees completely has dragged the issue back into the spotlight. The move proved popular among younger voters and appears to hav...

The introduction of new GCSEs this summer means nearly one in eight secondary schools in England is likely to fall below the government’s floor for pupil progress, according to the latest national figures. The Department for Education’s provisional data for key stage four results reveal a messy picture caused by reformed GCSEs in English and maths taken for the first time this year, including a large jump in schools struggling to meet national progress targets. Read More

Is higher education still the preserve of the middle classes or have tuition fees opened up access? What are the challenges of being the first in your family to go to university – and how does it shape your academic experience? We asked four first-generation students about their experiences. From struggling to pay for books and scrambling for a rental guarantor to not wanting to let your family down, here’s what they said.   Dalal Barahman, 21, first year medical student at Manches...

Accelerated two-year degrees have caused a serious stir among universities. Many institutions – especially the more traditional – are concerned about set-up costs, including investment in facilities and additional staff required for teaching and admissions. Some have questioned the value of two-year degrees more broadly. It’s clear that they’re not for everyone – but that doesn’t mean they’re a bad idea. Introducing two-year degrees in February, universities minister, Jo Johnson, said they woul...