State-school admissions are rising at Oxford and Cambridge

The vast majority of Britons are educated in state schools: 94% of the population and 83% of those who take A-levels. Until recently, admissions to the best universities did not come close to reflecting these numbers. In 2013 state-school students made up 57% and 61% of those admitted to Oxford and Cambridge respectively. Admissions at other leading universities were also weighted towards teenagers who are educated privately.

Since then a quiet revolution has got under way. Every year the number of state-educated pupils getting Oxbridge places has risen; the number gaining admission from private schools has fallen. In 2022 the proportion of places offered to state-school students was 68% at Oxford; 72.5% at Cambridge. Because many members of the Russell Group, a collection of 24 prestigious universities, have long admitted higher proportions of state-school pupils than Oxbridge, the rise there has been less marked: from 78% to 80% in the past eight years. But Hollie Chandler, the group’s head of policy, says that its members have “ambitious targets” to admit more students from disadvantaged backgrounds.