As both director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford and a state-educated geordie who is proud not to have lost my accent since moving down south, I want bright young people from every corner of the UK to aspire to Oxford. A world-class university needs the very best students. Attracting as many good applicants as possible from every background, and then admitting the very best, isn't just the right thing to do – it's in Oxford's own interests.
We put huge effort into outreach to all parts of the UK. We run over 2,400 outreach events a year, spending over £5m annually and bringing us into direct, face-to-face contact with three-quarters of all schools in the UK teaching post-16s. That's on top of providing the most generous no-strings-attached financial support package for lower-income students of any university in the country, worth up to £33,000 over three years, to ensure money is no barrier.
So why is there still an issue?
Let's be clear about the nature of the challenge. This isn't only a question about aspiration or perception (which our outreach aims to address), but about attainment.
Pre-university attainment varies dramatically by local authority. Last year, 45 students in Gateshead achieved AAA or more at A-level, compared with 1,021 in Hampshire. Nine students in Middlesbrough achieved AAA or more, compared with 644 in Buckinghamshire. In London, 21 students in Barking and Dagenham achieved AAA or more, compared with 464 in Barnet. These massive variations are caused both by differences in population size and by differences in the percentage of students achieving top grades.
These geographical disparities by school attainment are of huge concern. There's a whole range of socioeconomic factors in the mix, many of which stretch back to birth and beyond. This is something every part of society needs to work together to address, going right down to early years education. It is a national challenge. Universities can't make a difference on their own.
We are committed to doing our part. Teachers are central to both attainment and aspiration, and that's one reason Oxford runs so much targeted outreach activity with them. Very many teachers are doing incredible work: our inspirational teachers awards, which go to those nominated by current undergraduates for supporting them in reaching Oxford, saw teachers honoured recently from Pontypool, North Yorkshire, Grimsby, Cumbria and Bolton. And the university has other close links with the teaching profession: teaching is the number one career destination for Oxford graduates.
We also do our utmost to provide a welcoming, friendly environment for applicants from all backgrounds. Interviews are intended to assess genuine potential and cut through coaching. It's a testing experience, but tutors try their best to put people at ease, and many students comment on their positive experience of the process.
Oxford's outreach covers every single local authority in the UK. In 27 local authorities last year, including 10 in northern England and three in Wales, 100% of schools with post-16 provision had face-to-face contact with Oxford. The average is 76%.
Every local authority is linked to a specific Oxford college, and since 2008 this work has contributed to increases in applications from 114 local authorities. Selected notable successes include an 89% increase from Gateshead, 80% from Kirklees, 74% from Trafford and 67% from Redcar and Cleveland.
So our outreach is bearing fruit. Students who attend our free UNIQ summer schools and then apply to study here have double the average success rate. And one-third of all Oxford's UK undergraduate places for 2012 went to applicants who are a target of our widening access activities.
But as various figures show, the work we do to raise aspiration and support successful applications can only get us so far. Addressing inequalities in school attainment across the UK is critical. It's a deep-seated problem which universities can and do help to address, but cannot cure alone.
Mike Nicholson is director of admissions and outreach at the University of Oxford
