UCL comes last in ranking of participation of disadvantaged students

In a report published this month by think tank Reform, it was revealed that UCL has come last in an "access ranking" of elite universities.

The list ranked 29 universities by their annual increase in the proportion of disadvantaged students between the academic years 2012-13 and 2016-17. In this year's rankings, UCL moved down two place to 29 from last year's marginally better position of 27.

London universities had mixed performance overall, with LSE taking the top spot, SOAS and Royal Holloway making the top 10 and King's College London settling with a respectable 12th place.

The only other London universities not to make the top 20 were Imperial College London, and St George's.

When approached for comment, a UCL spokesperson said, “UCL is committed to increasing access to students from areas of high financial and social deprivation and although we have made good progress, we recognise that we need to do more."

They added “Every year, we invest over £4 million in supporting students from low income backgrounds to raise attainment and widen participation at UCL." This investment has lead to UCL increasing their intake of students from deprived areas, "rising from 7.8% to 12.4% over the last four years."

UCL dropped two places in the rankings this year.

Despite the rise in intake from deprived areas the new study clearly shows this increase is much lower than other 'elite' universities.

However, this is hopefully set to change with the new Access UCL program which was launched earlier this year. UCL told the London Tab that the program "gives students from disadvantaged areas contextual offers of admission of up to two grades lower."

The first cohort of Access UCL students will be welcomed to the university next September.