Pupils from UK private schools face double the barrier for entry to Oxford and Cambridge and other top universities, an investigation has revealed.
Figures show half the number of pupils from British state schools need to attain the same high grades as private school pupils to get into some Russell Group institutions, traditionally considered to be the cream of the British university crop.
The data was revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Telegraph newspaper with the University of Bristol one of the elite establishments shown to be taking a two-tiered approach.
It set entry grades at three As or above for 76 per cent of private school pupils who received a conditional offer to start last year, a percentage which dropped to 40 per cent for their state equivalents.
The disjunction intensifies for the most competitive subjects, such as maths, history and English.
Nearly all private school pupils applying to study history at Bristol were told they must achieve A grades or higher but just 50 per cent of state-school pupils had to reach this level.
The data shows the disparity has developed over time, with King's College London and the University of Exeter two other Russell Group institutions to apply the markedly divergent approach.
Higher Education Statistics Agency figures for 2020-21 show 73 per cent of Bristol undergraduates were state-school educated, with the percentages at 65.5 per cent and 83 per cent for Exeter and King’s College London respectively.
Contextual offers: social engineering or social fairness?
As well inserting an extra strand to the debate on whether UK private schools are worth it in the face of rocketing fees, it also resurrects the debate around the fairness of positive discrimination for state-school pupils.
“Universities are not supposed to be about social engineering,” Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council and a former headmaster of Harrow School, told the Telegraph.
“School type should never be the basis for university admission decisions. It is perfectly reasonable to make lower offers to applicants who are known to have greater potential than their A-level grades might suggest, but that would be as true of independent school pupils as state. Contextual admissions is only a fair system if applied fairly — which means looking at the individual pupil and their circumstances, not the type of school they go to.”
This thesis is tested by a Sutton Trust study published earlier this month into the debilitating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on UK pupils.
Eighty per cent of students expected to take A Levels in England this school year said their academic progress had suffered.
Crucially, almost half (46 per cent) of state school pupils said they had not been able to catch up with learning, a significantly higher proportion than those at independent schools (27 per cent).
The contextual approach taking by the Russell Group institutions to entrance appears to reflect this imbalance.
“We use contextual offers as we recognise that a student's potential may not always be reflected in their predicted grades, especially if they have been affected by educational or domestic disadvantage,” a University of Bristol representative told the Telegraph.
Similarly, Exeter said it was “proud” of its contextual admissions policy, which is part of its “unwavering commitment to welcoming students from all backgrounds to the Exeter academic and research community.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
