Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Oxford fails to win more state pupils

Judith Judd
Tuesday 18 February 1997 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Oxford University's decision to abandon its entrance exam appears to have failed in its aim of increasing the proportion of state school pupils admitted. The university last year dropped its entrance exam, partly because it was thought to be unfair to sixth formers at schools which could not afford to pay for thorough preparation. Instead, all applicants were offered places based on interviews, examples of schoolwork, short tests and predicted A-level grades.

But preliminary figures show that just 43 per cent of offers for places this autumn went to pupils from state schools compared to 47.5 per cent from fee-paying schools. Last autumn 43.6 of admissions were from state schools and 47.4 from fee-paying schools.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in