Rising trend of state school pupils going to university reverses

Proportion of UK students who are state educated now under 90%, the first fall for eight years

The proportion of British state school pupils going to university has fallen for the first time in eight years, according to official figures, with the lowest-performing 15 UK institutions taking less than 70% of their first-year undergraduates from state schools.

The data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency for the 2017-18 academic year showed that state-educated British students accounted for 89.8% of young entrants overall, below the previous year’s figure of 90%.