It will probably not surprise many but the region who manages to get the most amount of state pupils into the elite Oxbridge universities come from the South East of the UK.
I went to a bog standard comprehensive school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and I don’t remember anyone going to either university or it even being mentioned as an option, but I’m sure some would have held their own in the Oxbridge establishments; I don’t count myself in that number though.
Both universities are regarded as two of the best in the world and many Prime Ministers, Nobel prize winners and media stars have studied at the prestigious renowned universities.
In total the South East region manages to send almost half of the total of state school students who are accepted into these two elite educational establishments. Inner London schools send almost one hundred per cent more, reports the Mirror.
Of all the various region the North and the Midlands are represented the least at these universities, which are usually associated with pupils who attended private, fee paying schools. However, even private schools in the North East and Yorkshire won less than half the places at Oxbridge that would be expected for regions with their population size.
The study was carried out by King’s College London and it again shows a north/south (predominately south east divide).
The Conservative party have announced they are planning to create more grammar schools, but there have been critics who have said this will create even more inequality of state pupils joining Oxbridge establishment rather than actually closing the gap. The report discovered that most of these schools in the South East feeding into Oxbridge were actually grammar schools.
Academic Sol Gamsu stated these elite state schools were mostly grammars but also included a few sixth form colleges and comprehensives.
He said: “The capital’s rapid economic and social change lies behind the rise of these schools.
“London’s housing market has resulted in the price of accessing sought-after comprehensives in gentrified neighbourhoods rising beyond the means of many less affluent residents.
“These schools have also deliberately set out to construct highly academic, selective sixth forms – at post-16 these schools are comprehensive in name only.”
