2nd October 2019 14:54
By Blue Tutors
The number of students from state schools who are beginning university life at Cambridge University has increased this year to 68%, the highest proportion for decades. Accusations of social exclusion have led to the university trying harder than ever before to make the undergraduate makeup representative of the UK population.
Last year the number of state school students was 65% and four years ago this figure was 62%. In addition Cambridge said that a quarter of the intake were students from “disadvantaged backgrounds”, a proportion they hope to raise to a third over the next few years.
The numbers have increased partly because there are now 100 places kept available for state school students who achieved significantly better results than expected after not originally applying to Cambridge. Director for admissions, Sam Lucy, also said that they have tried to challenge false perceptions about applying to the university to encourage students to apply who may have previously been put off by the image of Cambridge.
The official figures for undergraduate acceptance will be published next year, and Dr Lucy added that she expects the proportion of ethic minority students to also increase. She said that it is “deeply encouraging” to see so many students winning a university place who have the potential to study at Cambridge.