Nearly one in five students enrolling at Oxford are now either black or an ethnic minority, figures show, as the university announces a new diversity drive in the wake of mounting political pressure.
For the first time in its history, the university today publishes its full admissions figures, which it hopes will reassure critics who have condemned its failure to admit more black and disadvantaged students.
The report shows that last year the number of students classes as black and ethnic minority rose to 17.9 percent, up from just 13.9 percent four years ago.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that more than six in ten students offered a place this autumn were from state schools, the highest proportion in the university’s history.
Pupils accepted from disadvantaged backgrounds, which have traditionally numbered just several hundred, now account for more than 10 percent of its annual intake.
It comes in the wake of a political backlash over the historically low number of ethnic minority students admitted to some of Oxford’s most elite colleges, with figures showing that three failed to admit a single black British applicant in 2015.
