Oxford University was accused of “institutional bias” against black and ethnic minority students after figures revealed that white applicants to a few of the foremost competitive courses are as much as twice as prone to get a spot as others, even if they get a similar A-level grades.
Figures for applications to the university in 2010 and 2011, obtained by the Guardian under the liberty of data Act, revealed that 25.7% of white applicants received a proposal to wait the university, compared with 17.2% of scholars from ethnic minorities.
White applicants to medicine, the most prestigious courses, were twice as more likely to get a spot as ethnic minority candidates, even if that they had the identical triple A* grade A-level scores. Older figures for Cambridge university suggested the same pattern.
David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, who have been a vocal critic of the university application system, said the figures suggested “institutional bias” and proved institutional failure.
Both of the country’s most prestigious universities, Oxford and Cambridge, have faced questions over the varying success rates of applicants from different ethnic groups. The distance has often been explained as being due largely to the truth that students from ethnic minorities usually tend to apply for probably the most competitive courses, resembling medicine.
But the newest figures, which for the 1st time break down success rates by both ethnicity and grades for a number of Oxford’s best subjects, cast significant doubt on these long-running explanations.
They show that white students were greater than twice as more likely to receive a suggestion to review medicine as those from ethnic minorities. The effect persisted for the foremost able students: 43% of white students who went directly to receive three or more A* grades at A-level got offers, compared with just 22.1% of minority students.
For economics and management, the university’s best course, 19.1% of white applicants received offers, compared with 9.3% for ethnic minorities. A number of the most able, these success rates increased to 44.4% and 29.5% respectively.
There was, however, no statistically significant difference in success rates between white and non-white students when applying to check law on the university.
The issue of race at Oxbridge has regularly hit the headlines, particularly since 2010, when data obtained by Lammy showed, among other disparities, that only one British black Caribbean undergraduate was admitted to Oxford in 2009, a figure later cited by David Cameron.
“After I first raised these issues in 2010, Oxford explained that the figures were as a result of prevalence of black and minority ethnic [BME] candidates applying to one of the most competitive courses,” Lammy said. “This new evidence blows that apart. We now know BME students get fewer offers despite the identical grades.
“Where there are interviews and quite large hurdles on the application stage, as with Oxbridge, it’s miles for the schools to illustrate there isn’t institutional bias. These figures suggest institutional bias, and positively show sustained institutional failure.”
He acknowledged that during the last couple of years the 2 universities had made renewed efforts to recruit BME candidates. “That needs to be welcomed, but what we want is a step change, and that hasn’t happened yet.”
Admissions tutors don’t necessarily know the ethnicity of candidates that do not make it to the interview process, although they do see their full name and details in their schooling, a spokeswoman confirmed. Admissions statistics do show that scholars from ethnic minorities apply disproportionately to competitive subjects, but that does not account for the discrepancies within subjects demonstrated by today’s figures.
The University of Cambridge refused a Freedom of data request soliciting for a similar detailed breakdowns by subject and by grade, saying the request was too costly to be handled under the act. However, it did provide some older figures dating from 2007-09, before the A* grade was introduced for A-levels, which show similar patterns to Oxford.
These figures show the ratio of offers to review medicine on the university to applicants who achieved at the least three A grades at A-level was 35% for white students compared with 24% for ethnic minority students, while for law the figures were 38% and 32% respectively.
Both universities rejected any suggestion that discrepancies in application success rates for various ethnic groups were as a result of the discrimination.
Oxford said it was closely examining the phenomenon. “Oxford University is committed to choosing the superior students, no matter race, ethnicity, or another factor,” a spokeswoman said. “This isn’t only the correct thing to do nonetheless it is in our own interests.
“Differences in success rates between ethnic groups are therefore something we’re continuing to ascertain carefully for possible explanations. We do know that an inclination by students from certain ethnic groups to use disproportionately for the foremost competitive subjects reduces the success rate of these ethnic groups overall. However, we’ve never claimed this was the sole consider success rate disparities between students with similar exam grades.
“We don’t know students’ A-level grades when selecting, as they’ve got not yet taken their exams. Aptitude tests, GCSEs and interviews, that are utilized in our selection process, haven’t been explored during this analysis and are important in reaching reliable conclusions.”
A spokeswoman for Cambridge said the analysis of the FoI figures was superficial and “ignored an important variety of relevant variables”, similar to subject mix, performance in entry tests, and interview performance.
“Admissions decisions are in keeping with students’ ability, commitment and potential to succeed in,” she said. “Our commitment to improving access to the university is longstanding and unwavering … We aim to make sure that anyone with the power, passion and commitment to use to Cambridge receives all of the support necessary for them to best demonstrate their potential.”
Rachel Wenstone, vice-president of better education on the National Union of scholars said: “My initial response to those figures was shock – it truly is quite frightening. Quite clearly, there seems to be some structural discrimination in some departments at Oxford, and the university must manage it immediately.
“What’s really worrying is this hasn’t been picked up. Despite the fact that the reason for the space is something subtle, the distance itself seriously is not. Oxford must seriously look into itself quite carefully and assess why here is happening.”
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