Today a report that figured out the chances of teenagers to enter Oxford or
Cambridge University has been published. According to it, students from private universities are 55% more likely to get a place than pupils from state schools. The Sutton Trust revealed that less than 1% of students studying at the best universities are pupils on free school meals. Moreover, ist has been found out that universities located in cities are more inclusive than those in rural areas which are mostly selective.
This gap began at GCSE level when students studying at private schools stood three times better chance to get five A*-C GCSEs including English and maths than pupils who received free school meal. As a result of such selectiveness, only one out of 100 poor students got a place at Oxford or Cambridge between 2005 and 2007. According to the Sutton Trust, a "significant impact" has also geography. For example, the majority of students who attend 25 the most selective universities in England received free school meals.
Nowadays, the most prestigious universities have so few free school meals pupils that any plans on widening the access to universities could have a real impact. Today Pell grants that are given to poor pupils serve as an indicator of poverty in England, a new measure is considered to be introduced. Ministers are planning to realize a national scholarship to subsidize university for poorer students.
The
essay says: "The [scholarship] programme should not be exclusively targeted on individual student financial support at the point of entry to university, but should also be used to encourage and stimulate other important access work in universities – proven outreach schemes to raise aspirations, and the drive to improve access to the most selective universities as well as higher education as a whole."
