It's no secret that few poorer students go to elite universities, but a new analysis today ranks institutions to reveal the true picture
The data in full
Claire Lucas grew up in Cumbria, the daughter of a lorry driver and a housewife. Many of her friends and classmates left school to go to work in a local factory. Neither of her parents went to university, but Lucas decided she wanted to get a degree. Thanks to her teachers at Nelson Thomlinson school in Wigton, she felt confident enough to apply to Oxford University to study engineering. It was only after she took up her place that she realised this was actually quite a big deal.
"The only definition of posh where we grew up was being clever. I didn't even contemplate the impact that [social class] would have when I got here," says Lucas, who is now a year into her DPhil at St Cross College after completing her degree at Worcester College. "I became aware that there was a crowd of people who knew each other already. That the JCR and the union were mostly full of people who seemed to have experience in leadership – and therefore not normally working-class people. That I couldn't afford to go on the varsity ski trip, and that some people's parents bought them amazing houses to live in." But despite all that, Lucas settled in well. "Luckily, I was encouraged to develop skill and confidence by very patient tutors."
It is no secret that there aren't huge numbers of students from working-class backgrounds studying at the most prestigious universities. But an exclusive new analysis of statistics shows the true extent of the issue. In a survey of over 150 institutions, eight of the 10 universities with the lowest proportions of working-class students were in the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive universities.
Lucas has naturally reflected on her fortunes and gives credit to her school. "A fair number of farmers, hairdressers, truck drivers and factory workers' kids at my school went to Oxbridge over the years," she says. "The school was nowhere near a grammar or private school, so children from middle-class professional families came in – I think that their success helped to raise aspirations for the school."
With just 11.5% of its intake coming from working-class families, Oxford is bottom in this particular table. Cambridge is next, with 12.6%, and Bristol, another member of the Russell Group, comes in third at 14.2%. Just two of the universities in the bottom 10 – Durham and Bath – come from outside the Russell Group (both are members of the 1994 Group).
The figures, based on the occupation of students' parents, compares with an average working-class intake of 32.3% across all universities in the country. In total, 37% of the UK's population is estimated to come from routine and manual occupations. The figures – from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) – of students entering full-time education in 2008-09 (the latest data available) may not even show the true extent of the underrepresentation because students from long-term unemployed families are not included.
Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, defends her members' record, insisting that the "underlying cause" of the problem was occurring long before university. Too few students, in short, have the support and encouragement offered by Lucas's school. "Low aspirations, lack of quality guidance and, most important, under-achievement in school still remain significant barriers to participation and can only be tackled by government, among others," she says. "We are also concerned by evidence that some teachers may not be encouraging their students to consider Russell Group universities.
"Research shows that pupils from top independent schools make twice as many applications to the most selective universities as their equally well qualified peers from the best comprehensive schools. We can't offer students places if they don't apply for them."
Education Guardian's analysis finds that the subjects students choose are also heavily weighted by socio-economic background. Medicine, dentistry and veterinary science are the subjects least often chosen, with just 18.2% of the students on these courses coming from working-class families. Figures for historical and philosophical studies are also low, at 24.2%, and languages, at 25.9%.
But experts outside the Russell Group argue that the problem isn't just at school level, and that universities must share some responsibility. "Elite universities have always valued traditional subjects taught by particular schools," says Miriam David, professor of education at the Institute of Education, who has carried out research projects on class and inclusion.
She believes some admissions tutors tend to stick with what is familiar to them. "Because the top universities are oversubscribed, some groups will inevitably lose out. This is partly because of the demanding grades they ask for, but it is also to do with universities trying to maintain their elite status. Working-class students may be seen as more risky than those applying from independent schools, and they may come from a culture that is less familiar."
Danny Dorling, professor of geography at Sheffield University, who has researched social inequality, agrees. "It's hard to believe just how many working-class children live within the shadow of our top universities," he says. "Oxford doesn't have a university as far as the working-class children of that town are concerned. The situation has been improving since the 1930s, but there is a real threat that things will go backwards under the new coalition."
A poll last week by OpinionPanel and the University of Leicester found that 14% of students from low-income homes would be deterred from applying to university if fees rose from the current level of £3,290 to £7,000, compared with 9% of those from better-off homes. A rise in fees is one of the possible outcomes of the Browne review of fees and finance, due to be published next month.
A report last week from the Office of Fair Access (Offa), the government's watchdog, said that efforts by the top universities to attract a higher number of deprived teenagers by offering generous bursaries had proved fruitless.
The Russell Group and Universities UK (UUK) deny that universities aren't doing enough, saying that admissions tutors do take into account the "wider context" of applicants' backgrounds. They point to another report from Offa, in May, which found that if it weren't for universities' efforts to widen participation, it is likely that the proportion of disadvantaged groups in the most highly selective universities would have declined.
A recent report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) found that the proportion of young people going to university from the most disadvantaged areas has indeed increased by 30% over the last five years.
The best-performing universities on social access are among the institutions usually regarded as less prestigious. London Metropolitan, which came bottom of the Guardian's latest University Guide rankings, comes top of the league for social representation, with 57.2% of students coming from working-class families. Greenwich comes second, with 55.5%. Bradford, an older institution, is fifth, and Ulster 10th. No university from Scotland makes it into the top 10.
Education Guardian's research also reveals which subjects attract the highest proportion of working-class students. Education-related degrees are the most popular, with 41.4% of all students coming from such backgrounds. Agriculture has 39.5% of students in this group, while computer sciences has 38.9%. Such subjects are less likely to be available in Russell Group universities.
Presented with the figures, Piatt raises concerns that working-class students aren't getting the support they need to make fully informed subject choices. "Too few students from state schools are opting for Stem subjects [science, technology, engineering and maths] at GCSE, A-level and university and some schools don't even offer single science subjects."
Instead, working-class students are more likely to go to institutions such as Bolton, which attracts a high number of working-class boys on to its engineering and ICT courses. Over 50% of the university's 13,000 students come from working-class backgrounds, and 99.7% come from state schools. According to the deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Peter Marsh, this diversity is the result of targeted policy as well as the subjects on offer.
"Inclusion is built into our culture and strategy," he says. "For us it's not about talent spotting and creaming off the most talented students, it's about wider issues. We have students here who start on the access programme and go on to do a PhD. We're proud of our diversity."
Bolton runs foundation and access courses, and works closely with 26 partner schools and colleges in the Greater Manchester area, offering them visits, taster sessions and bursaries. Without the specific support and encouragement Bolton offers, Marsh believes many of his students would not have applied.
Fourteen-year-old Charlin Deugoue is one young man who is thinking about applying to Bolton. Just starting his GCSEs at Philips high school in Whitefield, Deugoue went to look around the university earlier this month as part of a trip organised by AimHigher, the national programme that encourages students from more diverse backgrounds to apply for university. Both his parents came from Cameroon, where his dad was a construction worker, but they're now unemployed.
"I told my parents I wanted to go to university and they said they wouldn't mind, but they asked about the money," says Deugoue. "I said it was OK because you didn't have to pay the money back until after. I always wanted to go to college and to uni. I've got four brothers and sisters, but none of them are thinking about going to university yet. My friends don't really want to go either, and I don't know that many people who have gone."
The last government's target to get 50% of young people into higher education fell by the wayside, and the coalition has gone quiet on the future of AimHigher, the scheme that has been supporting Deugoue and others like him. With 150,000 applicants failing to get a place this year, there are fears that it is poorer students who will bear the brunt of the competition for places.
The government declined to comment prior to Lord Browne's report. Students and families will have to wait and see if Browne can square the circle of promoting more equal access without providing extra places.
Download the full data for yourself and see how your university does: guardian.co.uk/datablog