University leads way in attracting ethnic minority students

The institution is one of just two universities in Yorkshire which are above the national average in attracting candidates from "black, Asian and minority ethnic" backgrounds, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

The latest figures for 2007/08 show that 16 per cent of university students nationally came from ethnic minorities while in Bradford this figure is 47 per cent.

Huddersfield University had 16.2 per cent of students from ethnic minorities.

Hull, Leeds, Leeds Met, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, York and York St John University are not only below the national average but also attract less ethnic minority students than Yorkshire's black, Asian and ethnic minority population which is 13.7 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds.

Prof Geoff Layer, Bradford University's deputy vice chancellor said: "The first thing to make clear is that no university discriminates between students on the grounds of ethnicity.

"Two factors at Bradford are that we have a curriculum which is applied and vocational coming from our strapline of 'making knowledge work'.

"Traditionally students from a South Asian origin have worked in areas which are independent, professional and entrepreneurial. Our curriculum includes areas such as pharmacy, optometry and IT – it contains a lot courses which can lead to that type of work.

"We also have a high proportion of students from West Yorkshire and students from South Asian origin from other parts of the country have told us that they chose Bradford because they knew they would be happy here."

However across the country British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani students continue to be the most under-represented groups, according to HESA.