Labour MP David Lammy has renewed his call for Oxbridge to centralise admissions after new data reveals that diversity has worsened over the past seven years. His latest freedom of information requests show that the proportion of offers to children from the top two social classes rose from 79% in 2010 to 82% at Oxford and 81% at Cambridge in 2015.
The data also highlights stark racial and geographic inequalities. Only one in four Cambridge colleges made offers to black British students every year between 2010 and 2015, while a quarter of colleges made no offers at all to black applicants in any given year. At Oxford, more offers went to applicants from five home counties than from the whole of northern England.
Lammy argues that the current college-based system perpetuates elitism and that centralising admissions could help eradicate bias. He points to the fact that Eton alone received more offers than all students on free school meals across the country, and that state school students with top grades in under-represented areas are far less likely to receive offers than their privately educated peers.
“Oxbridge are quick to blame everyone but themselves,” Lammy writes, citing excuses about school quality and lack of talent. He notes that in Sunderland, 103 state-educated students achieved three A grades in 2011, yet only four offers were made to applicants from the city. Over four years, 851 students in Wigan achieved top A-levels, but only 29 received Oxbridge offers.
Lammy concludes that if Oxbridge cannot improve access, the government should reconsider the £800 million of annual taxpayer funding they receive. He warns that the geographic and social exclusion of left-behind areas fuels a sense of detachment from the establishment, particularly in regions that voted for Brexit.
