Only 18% of Muslims were awarded the top classification, a lower proportion than in any other religious group

Students from Muslim families are less likely to be awarded top class degrees than students from other religions or beliefs, according to research examining UK higher education attainment for people of different faith backgrounds.

The research, based on official statistics gathered from more than two million students attending British universities, found that just 65% of students identifying as Muslim gained firsts and upper second class degrees as undergraduates, compared with more than 76% of all other students.

The attainment gap was particularly wide among those gaining first class honours: only 18% of Muslims were awarded the top classification – a lower proportion than in all other other religious groups and than the nearly 30% of students with no religion who gained firsts. Sikh and Hindu students were also less likely to be awarded first class degrees.

“Reasons for differences in degree award by student’s religion during their time in [higher education] are complex and difficult to disentangle from other characteristics associated with religion,” the report by Advance HE noted.

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It suggested that differences in students’ backgrounds and experiences, differences in treatment from staff and other students, and “barriers specifically associated with religious observation” could all play a part in explaining the attainment gap.

The researchers found that the gap between Muslims and others got wider as the proportion of Muslims studying at an institution fell. Universities with Muslims making up just 3% of students saw the worst outcomes compared with their peers, including those in leading Russell Group universities.

The researchers also noted that the performance of Muslim students was inversely related to the proportion of Muslim staff at an institution: for every additional percentage point of Muslim staff, the attainment gap between Muslims and non-Muslims shrank by more than by two percentage points.

Previous research has found that the perceptions of other students and staff – including outright Islamophobia – and a lack of acknowledgement of students’ religion contribute to the negative experiences of Muslim students.

The Advance HE study is the first of its kind to examine how students’ experiences at university can differ according to their religion and beliefs, using responses recorded by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The responses from young people enrolled as students in 2017-18 found that nearly half declared they had no religious beliefs, while a third said they were Christian. Some 9% were Muslim, 2% Hindu, 1.7% Buddhist, while just 0.9% were Sikh and 0.4% were Jewish.

But the study also found that a higher proportion of university staff described themselves as Christian compared to students, while the reverse was true for Muslims: only 3% of staff said they were Muslim.

Jewish students were the most academically successful among all groups: nearly nine out of 10 graduated with a first or 2.1 degree. And eight out of 10 students with no religion also achieved a first or 2.1.

Students in Northern Ireland were most likely to identify by religion than their peers in the rest of the UK: more than 70% said they were Christian compared to 33% in Scotland, while only 25% said they had no religion compared with 49% in England.