Indian and Chinese pupils more than twice as likely to go to university, reveals Institute for Fiscal Studies

White British pupils are on average the least likely ethnic group in the UK to go to university, a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has revealed.

Young people from every other ethnic group, including those who tend to perform worse in school exams, such as black Caribbeans, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, are more likely to go on to further education.



After examining university entrance records and 2011 census findings, the IFS said that just under one in three (32.6%) of white British pupils go on to university. Indian and Chinese pupils are, on average, more than twice as likely to go to university as their white British counterparts, with 75.5% and 67.4% participation rates, respectively.

These differences also vary by background – Chinese pupils in the lowest socio-economic group are, on average, more than 10 percentage points more likely to go to university than white British pupils in the highest socio-economic group.

Furthermore, white British pupils in the lowest socio-economic group have participation rates that are more than 10 percentage points lower than those observed for any other ethnic group.

The report’s authors, Claire Crawford and Ellen Greaves, said that while large numbers of white British students get a place at university, the proportion of students from a minority ethnic background studying is higher than the proportion of white British students going on to higher education.

This is the case even among groups who were previously under-represented in higher education, such as those of black Caribbean ethnic origin.

“Differences in how well pupils do at school can help to explain some but not all of these gaps,” Crawford and Greaves write. “For example, pupils of black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic origin tend to perform worse, on average, in national tests and exams taken at school than their white British counterparts.

“Accounting for the fact that individuals from these ethnic groups have lower prior attainment than their peers therefore increases the unexplained differences in participation between ethnic minorities and white British pupils. In other words, comparing pupils with similar school attainment but from different ethnic backgrounds actually makes it more difficult to explain why ethnic minorities are so much more likely to go to university than their White British peers.”

The researchers suggested that minority ethnic families may work harder to get young people into university. “There must be other factors that are more common among minority ethniv families than among white British families which are positively associated with university participation,” they said.

“Moreover, we find that these other factors appear to be more important for ethnic minorities for whom English is an additional language and for those living in London. Future research could usefully explore the source of these differences.”

Despite the high university participation rates, research published last month by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) found many students from disadvantaged backgrounds face barriers to success after they graduate.

Its analysis showed that six months after graduating in 2008-09, black Caribbean graduates had the lowest rate of professional employment, a trend that continued 40 months later.

Recent research by university admissions body Ucas also found that teenagers from ethnic minorities are less likely to get an offer from a top university because they are more likely to apply for the courses and institutions that are the toughest to get into.

It found these young people were more likely to aim higher in their applications than their white peers.