The University of Cambridge and its constituent colleges have come under fire for failing to increase the number of students coming from state schools, in an annual report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

Oxford and Cambridge have been singled out as two of the worst performing universities in the country with regard to access, with only Bristol, “where the proportion of the intake from state schools is declining”, faring worse.

The Observer described it as "an unprecedented attack from government advisers for their failure to increase the number of state school pupils studying at Oxbridge colleges."

The report states that in order to raise the proportion of disadvantaged students to reach their own targets, Cambridge would have to increase the number of state school pupils by 18 per cent. 

Colleges where state school students still make up less than half of the intake have been criticised in particular, with the report noting that there are discrepancies between the efforts of different colleges.

“Given Cambridge’s own estimate of a reasonable target for admissions from state schools... it is clear that some parts of Oxbridge are falling far behind,” the report says.

One of the report’s more damning revelations is that some colleges still make less than half of their offers to pupils at state schools.

Among the worst performers in this regard was Cambridge’s Robinson College, where 47.4 per cent of accepted applicants are from the state sector. The other four of the five worst offenders in this regard are Oxford colleges.

When Varsity contacted Robinson College's admissions office for comment on the report's findings, we received a reply from a spokesperson for the university as a whole. 

“Our policy is to offer admission to students of the highest intellectual potential and achievement, irrespective of their background. The university works hard to raise aspirations among disadvantaged groups and to improve their access to Cambridge and higher education in general", a University of Cambridge spokesman said.

Explaining that Cambridge is meeting the targets set by the Office for Fair Access in 2012, he added that "We spend £4.5m a year on access measures leading to 200,000 interactions with school learners and teachers. We will continue to invest a huge amount of time, energy, expertise and money in order to make further progress."

Helena Blair, CUSU's Access and Funding Officer told Varsity that this report highlights "how far universities such as Oxford and Cambridge still have to come in ensuring the opportunities they offer are accessible to people of all backgrounds."

She added that CUSU supports "the use of contextual admissions and advocate this as a consistent approach for Cambridge", but that the findings exist "in the context of a period of massive change" to university education. 

"Access to our institutions can only be improved when the institutions themselves are fully funded and supported, and students are assured that they will be accessing a fair, affordable and high-quality education at university."

The report itself was not completely negative. Of the five Oxbridge colleges with the greatest proportion of accepted applicants from the state sector, three are in Cambridge. Churchill, Girton and Homerton colleges all accept around 70 per cent of their students from state schools.

Churchill's Master, Dame Athene Donald, praised her college's efforts on Twitter: "At @ChurchillCol we work extremely hard on widening participation and are proud (but not complacent) of our record."

Though the Commission welcomed Oxbridge’s increased use of contextual measures and notes that some progress has been made – the proportion of state-school students rising 6 per cent over the decade to 2013-14 – they demand that more be done.

“Too often in the past, university applicants have missed out because of a lack of opportunity to demonstrate their potential," the report said.

Responding to the report, an anonymous Cambridge student told Varsity that while biases may exist, “disparities at Oxbridge emerge mostly from clear differences in education attainment”.

“To blame the gulf in state school admissions on class bias is the easy answer, ignoring the fact working class talent is under-nurtured and neglected at lower levels."

The incoming access officer for Emmanuel College argued that it is not enough “to admit a few more state school pupils” each year when they’d still be “substantially outnumbered by whole cliques from the same few schools," adding that it was “lazy to say” that the privately educated “simply show more academic potential.”

“Oxbridge needs to be more proactive about creating a welcoming, supportive environment for state-educated pupils.”

The commission also drew attention to the discrepancy between the dropout rates of students coming from areas with low higher education participation and the rest of the student body.

“It remains the case that even when the participation gap is closed, the retention gap is damaging the prospects of disadvantaged young people.”

Cambridge – where the dropout rate among students from low participation areas is 3.3 per cent, in comparison to 1.3 per cent for students from other areas – is one of the ten universities in the country with the highest ratios of low participation area dropouts compared to dropouts from other areas.

With additional reporting from Varsity News Team. 

For comment and debate, see here.