Britain’s elite universities are “just as socially exclusive as ever”, according to the outgoing head of one of the UK’s most highly respected think-tanks, Bahram Bekhradnia, the director general of the Higher Education Policy Institute.
“The recent increases in participation by students from poor backgrounds - up 40 per cent in six years - have almost entirely been to the less prestigious universities.”
Figures show that - despite a major increase in students from disadvantaged backgrounds opting for university - the numbers obtaining places at the 24 leading universities has actually fallen.
“Posh students go to posh universities because they do better at school and less posh students to less posh universities because they do less well at school,” said Dr Bekhradnia. The social gap, he said, was illustrated at a rugby match between Manchester University students (posh) when they turned en masse to face their opponents from Manchester Metropolitan University (not posh) and chanted “Your dad works for my dad".
“The recent increases in participation by students from poor backgrounds - up 40 per cent in six years - have almost entirely been to the less prestigious universities.”
Figures show that - despite a major increase in students from disadvantaged backgrounds opting for university - the numbers obtaining places at the 24 leading universities has actually fallen.
“Posh students go to posh universities because they do better at school and less posh students to less posh universities because they do less well at school,” said Dr Bekhradnia. The social gap, he said, was illustrated at a rugby match between Manchester University students (posh) when they turned en masse to face their opponents from Manchester Metropolitan University (not posh) and chanted “Your dad works for my dad".
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