Oxford University’s undergraduate admissions report published

Now in its sixth year of publication, the Report provides details of the success rate of UK undergraduate applicants by education, region, ethnicity and socio-economic background, as well as by course and college over five admissions years between 2018 and 2022.  

Over the past five years, students from a wider range of backgrounds than ever have joined the University, including from areas of low progression to higher education and from areas of social and economic disadvantage.  

3,271 undergraduate students were admitted in 2022, of which 79.4% were from the UK, 3.8% from the EU, and 16.8% from other countries.  22.9% of UK undergraduate students admitted came from the least advantaged backgrounds; 7.3% were eligible for Free School Meals; and more than one quarter identified as Black and Minority Ethnic (BME). 

Oxford is committed to increasing the number of students from currently underrepresented backgrounds and has created several access initiatives in recent years, designed to achieve this goal. In 2022, almost 1,500 Year 12 students joined Oxford’s flagship access programme – UNIQ – and 188 students from the least advantaged socio-economic backgrounds participated in Opportunity Oxford, a programme that provides additional academic support to support transition from school to Oxford.   The first offers have also been made to 35 UK state school students for the Astrophoria Foundation Year, a year-long foundation course for UK state school students who have high academic potential but have experienced severe personal disadvantage or a disrupted education. 

Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Irene Tracey, said, ‘It is encouraging to see that steady progress continues to be made to ensure that those with the highest academic potential, from all backgrounds, can realise their aspirations to study here – despite admissions continuing to be increasingly competitive.  

‘Our students reflect the UK’s diversity in many respects, and we want to maintain long-term progress in this area. To support this ambition, we will continue to innovate and to build on the success of our existing outreach initiatives to increase our engagement with people across the UK and support, inspire, and motivate bright students to realise their academic potential and aspirations, and – we hope – to foster a love of learning and consider Oxford as a place truly for them.’ 

The Admissions Statistical Report is available to view here.