Oxbridge miss targets for state pupils

Oxford and Cambridge have fallen far short of their targets for the number of students from state schools going to the top universities, figures showed today.

More state-educated students went to Cambridge than Oxford, but in each case they made up little more than half the total intake at either university.

The Oxbridge institutions both failed even to reach three-quarters of their "benchmark" figures for admitting larger numbers of state school students in 2007.

In the UK as a whole, 88 per cent of young, full-time, first degree entrants to universities were state- educated, continuing a steady rise from 86.8 per cent in 2003.

The percentage of state school students going to Cambridge fell to 57 per cent from 57.6 per cent in 2006.

But the percentage going to Oxford rose slightly from 53 per cent to 53.4 per cent, the figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency showed.

The Cambridge and Oxford benchmarks were 78 per cent and 77.5 per cent respectively.

Fewer than 10 universities had acceptance levels for state-educated students of less than 60 per cent.

A University of Oxford spokeswoman criticised the system used to calculate the benchmarks as "unhelpful" and said the goals were "unrealistic".