Revealed: The unis who let in the fewest state school students

State school students are still underrepresented at nearly half of the country’s unis, we can reveal, as new stats show the extent of the class divide in education.

At 81 out of 189 unis – or 42 per cent – less than 93 per cent of students were from state schools, according to new data on those starting uni in 2019/20 released by HESA.

Nationally, just seven per cent of pupils attend private schools.

Oxbridge’s struggles with state school intake invariably attracts a lot of attention, but Edinburgh, Durham, St Andrews, and Exeter are all doing worse at admitting state school students than Cambridge is.

In fact, a gap is opening up between Oxford and Cambridge – 62 per cent of new starters at Oxford are from state school, compared to 69 per cent for Cambridge.

However, when Oxford individually released stats for 2020 in September, it announced that number had increased to 68 per cent. The university said the effort is part of a “long-standing commitment to address educational inequality”.

Cambridge last month announced it is to introduce a foundation year for disadvantaged pupils. Students who missed their grades will be offered the opportunity to study a full degree if they pass the foundation years, as part of an effort to increase the amount of students at the university from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Overall, performing arts institutes top the list, but beyond those a number of high-profile unis still take over 25 per cent of their students from private schools.

These are the unis who let in the fewest state school students:

1. Regent’s University London: 25 per cent
2. City and Guilds of London Art School: 30.3 per cent
3. Royal Academy of Music: 37.5 per cent
4. Courtauld Institute of Art: 40 per cent
5. Royal College of Music: 44.8 per cent
6. Royal Agricultural University: 62.1 per cent
7. The University of Oxford: 62.2 per cent
8. The University of Edinburgh: 63.2 per cent
9. University of Durham: 63.5 per cent
10. The University of St Andrews: 63.9 per cent
11. The University of Exeter: 64.5 per cent
12. Imperial: 65.9 per cent
13. LSE: 67.1 per cent
14. University College London: 67.3 per cent
15. Guildhall School of Music and Drama: 67.4 per cent
16. The University of Cambridge: 69.1 per cent
17. New College of the Humanities: 69.6 per cent
18. Oxford Brookes University: 71.2 per cent
19. The University of Bristol: 71.3 per cent
20. The University of Bath: 71.9 per cent
21. Met Film School Limited: 72.7 per cent
22. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art: 73 per cent
23. Arts Educational Schools: 73.3 per cent
24. Newcastle University: 75.5 per cent
25. King’s College London: 76.6 per cent

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