Asian students ‘more likely to go to uni’

Analysis shows Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani students more likely to enter higher education

An analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies Students shows that white British pupils on average are the least likely ethnic group to go to university.

The study says the proportion of ethnic minority youngsters going to university is “very high on average”.

The study, which looks at the differences in terms of social background as well as ethnicity, shows that youngsters from Chinese and Indian backgrounds are the most likely to enter higher education.

Report authors Claire Crawford and Ellen Greaves say that the difference is greater than any previous gap in exam results, suggesting there must be “other factors that are more common amongst ethnic minority families than amongst white British families”.

The report found that white British pupils from the poorest families were the least likely to go to university, but almost as high a proportion of the poorest Indian youngsters went to university as the wealthiest white British pupils.

University entry rates