Um, these 14 Russell Group unis are actually letting in more privileged students than before

You would hope that in the 21st century, the UK is become a fairer and more inclusive place. Er, apparently not. Although UK universities are generally getting more inclusive (in theory), 14 Russell Group unis are actually letting in more privileged students than they used to.

So gals, the English Indices of Deprivation are “a unique measure of relative deprivation at a small local area level”. All areas in England are part of one of the five “quintiles”, which indicates how deprived or privileged that area is. Are you following? The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) shares data on how many students each university accepts from each quintile. So, you can see exactly how many students come from deprived areas, and how many come from the boujiest backgrounds.

The percentage of UK uni freshers who came from areas in the least deprived quintile dropped from 21.4 per cent in the 2017/2018 academic year to 19.1 per cent in 2022/2023. Slay. But at 14 Russell Group unis, more freshers came from the most privileged areas than they did the previous year.

Obviously, this is bad news for all the students who now have to put up with even more lacrosse-playing, Moët-drinking Arabellas and Alberts than every before. But it’s also quite alarming when you think about the impact this has on the rest of the UK. Russell Group uni students tend to nab the best grad jobs, so if the student cohorts at these unis get posher, then UK society as a whole is stuck in the same cycle of elitism and classism and fundamental unfairness.

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Now, HESA only has data for unis in England. That’s why the four Russell Group unis outside of England – Cardiff University, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow, and Queen’s University Belfast – aren’t really included in this article. Sozzles.

So, here are all the Russell Group unis that actually let in more privileged students than they used to.

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham campus, feat. that very overhyped clocktower

In the 2021/2022 academic year, 30.6 per cent of Brum freshers were from the least deprived quintile. But the next year, this went back up again to 32.4 per cent. The number of students from the two most deprived quintiles declined.

University of Bristol

The amount of privileged students did go up very slightly from 36.2 per cent to 36.5 per cent.

University of Cambridge

Cambridge did reduce the number of privileged students it let in from 41.1 per cent in 2018/2019 to 36.7 per cent in 2019/2020. But after that, the numbers of posh students pretty much plateaued again. The number actually increased again in 2022/2023, from 35.4 to 35.9.

King’s College London

King’s seems to be less elitist than lots of other Russell Group unis, because it has fewer privileged students in the first place. The percentage of students from the most privileged quintile had been decreasing from 22.8 per cent in 2018/2019 to 18.1 per cent in 2020/2021. But the this number went back up again to 20.1 per cent for the 2022/2023 academic year. *Sighs*.

University of Liverpool

Um, so 30.2 per cent of the 2021/2022 freshers were from the most privileged quintile. But 32.5 per cent of the new students were in 2022/2023. This is the wrong direction, people.

University of Manchester

Real life University of Manchester students

So, Manchester lets in more privileged students than it used to. 27.8 per cent of students who enrolled between 2019 and 2021 were from the least deprived quintile. Yet 29.1 per cent were from this background in 2021/2022, and 28.7 per cent were in 2022/2023.

Newcastle University

This uni let in way, way more posh people than normal in 2022/2023. 32.4 per cent of the 2021/2022 freshers were from the least deprived quintile, but then 35.4 per cent of the freshers the next year were from this background.

University of Nottingham

The percentage of privileged students did increase ever-so-slightly from 35.3 per cent in 2021/2022 to 35.9 per cent in 2022/2023.

University of Oxford

Although the amount of students from the most privileged quintile had been gradually decreasing since 2017, in 2022/2023 this increased again from 33.8 to 34.4 per cent.

Queen Mary University of London

Queen Mary does let in the least privileged students out of all the Russell Group unis. In the 2020/2021 academic year, 11.4 per cent of freshers were from the least deprived quintile. But this amount has actually increased each year, to 14.8 per cent in 2022/2023.

University of Sheffield

I’m still not over the weirdness of this building at the Uni of Sheffield
(Credit: Chemical Engineer)

33.8 per cent of freshers came from the most privileged background in 2021/2022. Yet, 35.4 per cent did in 2022/2023.

University of Southampton

So, in the 2019/2020 academic year, 37.3 per cent of freshers came from the least deprived background. But this has actually been increasing each year, up to 40.2 per cent in 2022/2023.

University of Warwick

32.4 per cent of the silly fresh at Warwick came from the most privileged quintile in 2021/2022. Yet, in 2022/2023 the uni took 33.4 per cent.

University of York

33.8 per cent of students the uni admitted in 2021/2022 were from the least deprived quintile. But in 2022/2023, 25.6 per cent were.

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