Fewer state school pupils take places at Oxford

The university's annual admissions statistics show that 53.9 per cent of UK undergraduates who started their degrees last October were from state schools, down 1.5 per cent from 55.4 per cent in 2008.

It means the numbers of private school sixth-formers admitted rose, up from 44.6 per cent in 2008 to 46.1 per cent last year.

This comes after a continued drive led by Government to encourage top universities to take students from a wider mix of backgrounds.

Yesterday's figures do show 56.4 per cent of the offers made by Oxford for this autumn have gone to UK state school teenagers and that record numbers of students are applying to the prestigious university.

Preliminary figures for entry this year show that there have been more than 17,000 applications – a 12 per cent increase –for 3,000 places.

It means there are around five prospective students chasing every place.

Applications from state school candidates have increased by 85 per cent over the last ten years, Oxford said.

Oxford's director of undergraduate admissions, Mike Nicholson, said: "The latest admissions figures indicate that Oxford's extensive outreach work encouraging applications from state school students is paying off.

"We are now in a position where our offers to state school students are roughly in line with the latest Government figures showing what proportion of students achieving three As at A-level came from state schools."