They show the recruitment of students by age, sex, and domicile, as well as data on offer rates and entry rates by sex, ethnic group, and area background (measured by POLAR3, except for Scotland where SIMD is used), showing the progress made on widening participation.
View the 2017 entry UCAS Undergraduate reports by sex, area background, and ethnic group.
These equalities data show how likely:
- students are to receive offers, placed in the context of the two factors most strongly associated with the likelihood of receiving an offer – namely predicted grades held, and the competitiveness of the course applied to
- people from different UK population groups are to enter specific universities. These entry rates are especially important for understanding representation in higher education for different ethnic groups, where population sizes range widely
This is the third year UCAS has published the equalities data, to help universities benchmark their performance in widening participation, and contribute to their commitment to transparency and openness in admissions.
UCAS Chief Executive Clare Marchant said: ‘It’s important that those applying to university are confident that their applications will be considered on the basis of their merits. Our data shows overall, admissions are fair. Applicants from all backgrounds receive offers at rates which closely match the average for applicants to similar courses, with similar predicted grades. Where there are differences in offer rates, we encourage providers to use these data to explore why.
‘However, these data also show that, while progress continues to be made in widening participation, particularly at universities with a higher entry tariff, large disparities remain between the groups entering higher education generally, and at individual universities and colleges.
'Overall, people living in neighbourhoods with low entry rates to higher education, men, and the White ethnic group, are the least likely to enter university. However, this is not the case at every provider. The portfolio of subjects offered, and the demographics of a local population, can be important factors in patterns of entry rates.’
For further information, please contact Felicity Cowie, Head of Media and Corporate Communications, on 01242 545 469, or at f.cowie@ucas.ac.uk.
ENDS
Notes to editors
The full data is published in the data and analysis section of ucas.com. It includes:
- individual reports on 132 universities and colleges
- guides and tables to understand and contextualise the figures
- aggregated reports for countries and different tariff types, allowing comparison and contextualisation for individual providers
- an aggregate report for English providers on the multiple equality measure (MEM)
- an interactive tool for data exploration
This data will update statistics from the 2016 cycle as part of UCAS’ established programme of detailed reporting, now in its third year.
Further information about the 2017 cycle can be found in our End of Cycle Report 2017, and data resources.
About data and analysis related to Scotland
In Scotland, there is a substantial section of provision not included in UCAS' figures. This is mostly full-time higher education provided in further education colleges, which represents around one third of young, full-time undergraduate study in Scotland. This proportion varies by geography and background.
About UCAS
UCAS is a charity, and is the UK's shared admissions service for higher education. We manage applications from around 700,000 applicants each year for full-time undergraduate courses, at over 395 universities and colleges across the UK.