Higher Education: Admissions

Michael Gove
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of students from (a) comprehensive and (b) independent schools attended Russell Group universities in (i) 1997, (ii) 2003 and (iii) the most recent year for which figures are available.

Mr. Lammy
The latest estimates show that some 19 per cent. (23,700) of state school A-level candidates who attempted one or more A-levels (or equivalent) at age 17 in 2005/06, progressed to a Russell Group HE institution by age 19 in 2006/07. The equivalent figure for candidates from independent school pupils was 46 per cent. (13,000).

These figures have been estimated using matched data from the National Pupil Database and the Higher Education Statistics Agency Student Record.