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Tuesday, 27 November 2007 |
Independent schools monopolise Oxbridge
Private school pupils have tightened their grip on Britain’s top universities, despite huge efforts by the Government and admissions tutors to end the social class bias in higher education.
Leading independent schools are getting more pupils into country's elite universities, the so-called Russell Group. The percentage of successful applicants rose by three percentage points to 65.6 per cent this year, a survey shows.
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The study, based on returns from 139 private schools and selective state grammar schools including Eton, Harrow and Roedean, suggests that a government drive to increase the number of school-leavers from deprived families at the elite universities is floundering.
The claim, from the Independent Schools Council, coincides with a call from the new equality watchdog for schools to consider a new system of selection based on social class. This would achieve a mix of students in each state school by regulating the proportion of children from different social classes that are allowed in one institution. The two contrary developments yesterday show how far Britain still has to go before achieving a class-less society in the classroom.
 Reducing social inequality and promoting diversity in education have been government aims for many years. Schools are now under a statutory duty to promote “community cohesion”, more commonly translated as social and racial harmony, and universities have been set aspirational targets for the proportions of poorer pupils admitted.
John Denham, the Universities' Secretary, has accused many of the most sought-after institutions of "social bias'' against working class pupils which was leading to a "huge waste" of talent. However, headmasters insisted that the trend was down to better teaching and preparation for university interviews in the independent sector. Last night, Sir Peter Lampl, the chairman of the Sutton Trust charity, said the findings revealed a "stark divide between the educational haves and have nots".
 The latest figures from the Independent Schools Council (ISC) suggest that pupils at its schools are now five times more likely than the national average to be offered a place at one of the twenty elite Russell Group universities, which include Oxford and Cambridge. According to the survey, 65.6 per cent of ISC pupils who applied for undergraduate courses at the Russell Group institutions were offered places. This is an increase of more than three percentage points on last year. It compares with an overall offer rate for applications to the Russell Group of just 13 per cent.
These figures show that almost two-thirds of applicants from independent schools in 2007 were offered a place at one of the 20 leading, research-intensive Russell Group universities. Among subjects such as physics, biology and maths, the acceptance rate for private school pupils was more than 80%.
For comparison, on average only 13% of all applications to the Russell Group were successful last year.
An analysis of applications also shows that these leading universities prefer high-quality A-levels - such as three grade As - rather than a higher point score from four lower grades. "Our research shows that A-level point scores can be misleading as a measure of achievement - it is quality, not quantity, that counts," says the council's chief executive, Jonathan Shephard. In terms of applications, this high grades rather than high points preference is significant because independent schools are particularly strong in getting pupils to achieve three top-grade A-levels.
Provisional figures for this summer's A-level exam results show that 7% of pupils in comprehensive schools achieved three A grades, but in independent schools 30% of pupils achieved this benchmark.
A report published in the autumn by the Sutton Trust highlighted how independent schools continued to be over-represented in the top universities. Only 54% of students at Oxford University and 57% of students at Cambridge are drawn from state schools. There are about 510,000 pupils in independent schools represented by the Independent Schools Council.
Independent schools have about 7% of the school population - but this rises to 23% of pupils in sixth forms.
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