Universities are still leaving BAME students behind – and the problem goes beyond Oxbridge

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Official figures show that while record numbers of BAME students are attending university, up from 13 per cent to 20 per cent between 2002-3 and 2016-17, there is also a complex leaky ethnic pipeline that is holding back progress. But while the Universities Minister says they are designed to ensure that higher education reflects “modern Britain” they have been roundly criticised for being introduced at a time maintenance grants have been scrapped and replaced with further loans, a move that disproportionately affects students from lower socioeconomic and BAME backgrounds who face the prospect of greater personal debt. The government’s own figures show serious disparities in academic attainment, with only 56 per cent of black students achieving a First of 2:1, compared to 80 per cent of their white peers. Further still, a new research brief from the Office for Students on degree apprenticeships shows that in 2016-7, 87 per cent of apprentices supported by the Degree Apprenticeship Development Fund were white, making this route even less ethnically diverse than equivalent higher education courses.