Universities still failing to recruit enough state-school students

The vast majority of Britain's top universities are still failing to meet benchmarks for recruiting both state-school students and young people from poorer neighbourhoods, even though the percentage of applicants from state schools being accepted by universities is at an all-time high.

Only six members of the 20-strong Russell Group - representing the highest-rated research institutions in the UK - meet government guidelines for recruiting state-school students. In addition, 16 of the 20 fail to recruit enough youngsters from parts of the country where participation in higher education is traditionally low.

Of the 20 members, only Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow, Sheffield, Southampton and Queen's University Belfast, have reached their benchmarks. Cambridge's figures were not included in the survey because it is currently changing the way it collects student data. Oxford University had a benchmark of recruiting 72.9 per cent from the state sector, but only managed 53.7 per cent.

When it came to accepting youngsters from deprived neighbourhoods, only four reached their benchmark - with Manchester and Glasgow beating their targets and Imperial College and King's College London, just reaching it. Nottingham University (with 5.5 per cent of recruits against a benchmark of 7.5 per cent) and Oxford (with 5.9 against 8.7 per cent) were the furthest behind.

But the overall figures - published today by the Higher Education Statistics Agency - show some encouraging signs for government attempts to widen participation after two years in which the percentage of youngsters accepted from state schools has fallen.

The figures, which cover 2005-06, show that - overall in the UK - the percentage of state-school pupils has gone up from 86.7 per cent to 87.4 per cent. That beats the high of 87.2 achieved in 2002-03.

Ministers were also celebrating two other improvements - with the percentage recruited from lower socio-economic groups also rising to a high of 29.3 per cent from 28.2 per cent last year, and the figures for those from deprived neighbourhoods also going up from 13.7 per cent to 14 per cent (again after a slump in the past two years).

Bill Rammell, the Higher Education minister, said yesterday: "It is encouraging to see progress in each of the key indicators measuring access to higher education by students from disadvantaged backgrounds. These are at their highest levels since the indicators were first published in 1999." However, he cautioned: "The figures are welcome confirmation that we're on the right track, but we must maintain our efforts."

David Eastwood, the chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, added that the figures "demonstrate a small but significant rise in students from non-traditional backgrounds entering higher education".

The overall picture that emerges from today's statistics appears to show that the country's elite independent schools are still having just as much success in getting their pupils into the top universities. If the independent sector is facing a squeeze, it is more likely to be middle-ranking private schools that are finding it more difficult to cope with the competition.

Asked if there was any likelihood that ministers would face complaints from independent schools about social engineering, Mr Rammell said: "This is not altruism, this drive to widen participation. It is crucial to the future of the country and in our economic interests."

Meanwhile, up to one in four students at some universities quit their courses after a year, yesterday's figures showed. The worst drop-out rate was at Bell College in Scotland, while the University of Bolton in England recorded 18 per cent.