Oxford University tries a new approach to recruiting poor students

WHILE at school, the idea of going to Oxford University “might as well have been like going to Mars,” says Varaidzo Kativhu, an 18-year-old from Brierley Hill, a town in the West Midlands. Yet now she is on a foundation year at Lady Margaret Hall, one of the university’s 38 colleges. The scheme, introduced this year, offers smart pupils from tough backgrounds who don’t have the requisite grades a free, year-long course before they go through the regular application process for entry the following year. After the political revolts of 2016, “I think all institutions have to ask what we’re doing to include black, Muslim and white working-class people,” says Alan Rusbridger, a former editor of the Guardian who became principal of Lady Margaret Hall last year.

Access is a problem in nearly all good universities, but Oxford, which is the world’s best according to a recent ranking by Times Higher Education magazine, and the alma mater of seven of the past ten British prime ministers, gets criticised for it more often than most. Defenders of the university say the problem lies beyond its ramparts: schools do not send it enough poor, bright candidates. Its critics argue that the admissions process is prejudiced against such children. As a new round of interviews gets under way this month, fresh initiatives are aiming to bring some diversity to its quads.

Around 59% of Oxford’s students arrived from state schools this year. That is much lower than the 93% of pupils who are educated by the state nationwide. Yet it is not so far below the 67% of students achieving three “A” grades in A-level exams, the minimum for entrance to Oxford, who come from state schools. And it is far more than in the past (see chart).

But the increasing share of students from state schools disguises the fact that there are parts of the country from which almost no one gets into Oxford, despite having the grades required. Figures seen by The Economist show that between 2010 and 2015, 156 of the UK’s parliamentary constituencies—a quarter of the total—got on average less than one pupil a year into Oxford, despite being home to 12% of all those who got at least three “A” grades in their A-levels and supplying 7% of all applicants to the university. By contrast, the 20 top-performing constituencies accounted for 16% of all successful applicants, despite having just 9% of the students who got three “A” grades.

Many poor, bright pupils choose not to apply. Doing so is needlessly tricky, particularly for those whose school sends few people to university, says Sir Peter Lampl of the Sutton Trust, an education charity. Whereas most universities accept applications until January, Oxford (like Cambridge and most medical schools) demands them by October. It sets extra tests, which schools must invigilate. Its interviews are a stomach-lurching prospect.

Even those poor students who do apply have lower offer-rates than average. Last year one in six candidates from a poor locality was offered a place, compared with one in five of all applicants. That is partly because poor pupils are disproportionately likely to apply for the most sought-after courses, such as law and medicine. They are also less likely to get the top “A*” grades that a place may depend on.

The university uses increasingly sophisticated data analysis to put applicants’ academic records into perspective, upgrading the results in GCSEs (the exams taken at 16) of candidates from bad schools. It has tried to make interviews as transparent as possible, publishing sample questions online (“Should interviews be used for selection?” is one). And it has pumped cash into sending outreach officers around the country in an attempt to change perceptions. Yet poorer children remain less likely to apply, slightly less likely to be made an offer and to get the necessary grades. “We haven’t been able to fix that with conventional forms of outreach,” says Andrew Bell, the senior tutor at University College.

So some colleges are trying new approaches. One advantage of the college system, says Samina Khan, the university’s director of admissions, is that it encourages innovation. As one don puts it: “The only way to get Oxford colleges to change is to make them compete.” The Lady Margaret Hall foundation year was based on a scheme at Trinity College Dublin, which found that students from tough backgrounds with low grades did as well as their peers after a year’s catch-up. It is low-risk, says Mr Rusbridger, since the college is not accepting anyone it would not otherwise have let in. Participants are nervous about reapplying, but hopeful. “I’ve learnt more in the past seven weeks than I did in the previous two years,” says Ms Kativhu.

University College will take a different approach. Next year it plans to add 10% more places, reserved for those who would previously have just missed out on a spot, and who come from a bad school in an area that sends few children to university. A one-month summer school will hone their skills. Tutors at other colleges are paying close attention.

Meanwhile, outreach efforts are increasingly focused on raising attainment in school, rather than merely awareness of the university. Pembroke College has developed five specialist subject centres in sixth-form colleges in London and north-west England to familiarise pupils with the style of learning at university. Since 2009, Oxford has put on summer schools for sixth-formers. It works with Target Oxbridge, a charity which aims to get black pupils into Oxford and Cambridge, and Into University, which runs “learning centres” for 900 children from poor families.

Critics say Oxford has been slow to put in place the long-term programmes working with young children which research suggests are the best way to increase participation. Several universities even run schools. But there are signs that Oxford appreciates the scale of the task. In a couple of decades, it may no longer be seen as symptomatic of social immobility if a prime minister passes through Oxford on her way to Westminster.