Wrong class

A quarter of British universities recruit fewer state-school pupils than they did a decade ago.

Some 34 British universities take proportionally fewer undergraduates who were educated in state schools than they did a decade ago, according to figures published on 4 February by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The culprits include some institutions famed for their selective intake: the University of St Andrews dropped its state-school recruitment by 10 per cent over the past decade, according to the data. The University of Bristol also took 6 per cent fewer undergraduates over the same period, as did the University of Exeter.