Undergraduate Admissions data show Faculty of Law performing well on student diversity
The University of Oxford has recently released its Annual Admissions Statistical Report, covering admissions over the last five years, from 2018 to -2022. This data is collected across all subjects and colleges and gives information on the students who have applied, received offers and been admitted to Oxford over this period. The Report provides transparency about our processes and measures our progress in ensuring that those with the highest academic potential, from all backgrounds, can realise their aspirations to study here.
Law is a very competitive subject; in 2022 we received 8.2 applications for every undergraduate place. Law has always performed better than most subjects when it comes to student diversity, admitting 23.7% of our students from areas defined as the most disadvantaged in the UK (Acorn 4 & 5). 23.2% of our students come from areas defined as of low progression to higher education (Polar 1 & 2).
The Faculty has also been working to improve the admission of students from BME backgrounds. 32.6% of students admitted between 2020 and 2022 were from BME backgrounds, half of which are of Asian heritage. Black African and Black Caribbean students make up 6.7% of our BME students.
We take part in a wide variety of initiatives to improve access to our courses such as UNIQ, a 4 day residential for prospective students from diverse backgrounds and Opportunity Oxford, an online and two week residential programme for prospective students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In conjunction with the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer we run Explaw, a 2 day residential programme for state school students with good grades from under-represented backgrounds. Additionally we are involved in the Astrophoria Foundation, a 1 year fully funded foundation programme; Target Oxbridge, which helps students of black and African heritage to secure places at Oxford and Cambridge; and Pathways to Law with the Sutton Trust, which is a two year programme supporting academically-able students in years 12 and 13 from non-privileged backgrounds who are interested in pursuing a career in Law.
In total 76.7% of students admitted to undergraduate Law courses at Oxford from 2020– 2022 were educated in the state sector. We work hard to encourage prospective students from all backgrounds and are pleased that the data is reflecting this effort.
Mindy Chen-Wishart, Dean of the Faculty said:
The Law Faculty is proud of these results whilst at the same time acknowledges that much work still needs to be done. To that end we will continue to support our access and outreach activities alongside our Equality and Diversity initiatives in order to encourage the most talented and able students from all walks of life and all ethnicities to fulfil their potential. We need lawyers who can tackle the challenges of the future and we cannot make that happen without widening participation in our degree programmes.
In the foreword to the Report, Vice-Chancellor Professor Irene Tracy said:
“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.”
Find out more about Oxford’s undergraduate admissions report: Oxford University’s undergraduate admissions report published | University of Oxford.