Admissions statistics for the University’s 2020 intake show that Cambridge accepted record numbers of students from BAME backgrounds, as well as those from state schools.

In the 2020 admissions, 29.3% of students were from BAME backgrounds, up from 27.8% the year before.

Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor Graham Virgo said: “It’s encouraging to see the number of BAME students rising again. We have a commitment to seeing more students from underrepresented backgrounds here at Cambridge and this work will continue.”

Moreover, the University also drew 70.6% of their intake from state schools this year, versus 68.7% in 2019.

The university’s state school intake has been increasing over previous years, with the 2019 statistics also being record figures for the University at the time. .

“2020 was a challenging year across the higher education sector,” Virgo continued, “but I’m happy to say, despite the increase in undergraduate admissions, we were able to admit each student who met the terms of their offer, with no forced deferrals.”

He said that the admissions statistics “show that we are meeting, or even exceeding, our benchmark targets”.

Admissions also saw an increase in the intake of students from economically disadvantaged areas, up to 21.6% from 19.7% the year before.

Students from areas with low progression to higher education also increased to 14.1% from 13% in 2019.

Dr Sam Lucy, Director of Admissions for the Colleges, said “Cambridge is delighted to see the number of students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds increasing this year, at a time when many of those students have been particularly affected by the pandemic.”

More broadly, there has also been an increase in the total admissions, which was increased by 13.3% this year. This follows the government U-turn on A-Level results in the summer of 2020.