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UoB places in top five unis for the largest imbalance between students from richest and poorest areas

The percentage of students from privileged backgrounds is one of the highest in the country


The University of Bristol is within the top five universities for the largest imbalance between students from the most advantaged and disadvantaged areas, a new study has revealed.

The other four universities which placed alongside Bristol were Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College and UCL.

Data collected in 2017/2018 showed that just 4.6 per cent of Bristol University's undergraduates came from areas that had less than 20 per cent of school pupils going onto study at university. The average proportion across all English universities was 12 per cent.

This contrasts the percentage of undergraduates who came from areas in which the highest number of school pupils progress to university, with 56.9 per cent of Bristol students coming from the most privileged backgrounds.

A spokesperson from the University said to Bristol Live: “We are firmly committed to making our university a socially diverse and inclusive community. While we appreciate that there is still significant work to be done, the university is making real progress and we’re beginning to see our new measures make an impact.

“In the last five years there has been a 90 per cent increase in the university’s intake from students attending the lowest performing schools, state school intake increased to 67 per cent in 2018 and our flagship two-grade lower contextual offer is having a transformative impact on the social diversity of our student community.

“We recognise the need to attract and admit a greater number of students from the most disadvantaged regions and have extended our contextual offer to include those who apply from neighbourhoods with the lowest progression rates to higher education.

“We remain committed to developing innovative solutions and are very proud of our pioneering Bristol Scholars scheme. 76 students from the city, who have suffered significant levels of educational or domestic disadvantage, have entered the University since this innovative programme began in 2017.”