Statement on the Sutton Trust report

20 September 2007

Commenting on today's report by The Sutton Trust, Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said: "The Russell Group welcomes The Sutton Trust report and in particular the announcement of a minimum £10m in funding over the next five years to help address the serious issues it raises. Russell Group universities are working extensively with schools, charities, businesses and government alike to remedy the problem of the under-representation of students from low income backgrounds in ouruniversities. These activities range from summer schools to out of school support, to sponsorship of City Academies. Russell Group universities recognise that they have a part to play in tackling the root cause of the problem by improving attainment, raising aspirations, and encouraging applications.

Admissions practices within the Russell Group universities have long set out to identify potential in candidates over and above A-level results. Oxford, for example, has recently introduced a new admissions form offering schools the opportunity to provide detailed and reliable information about a candidate's educational environment. The Russell Group welcomes the research being conducted on SATs by The Sutton Trust. We are exploring a number of other aptitude tests. However, we must be satisfied that such tests really do measure potential accurately, fairly and independently of what is already measured by A-levels.??

Professor Malcolm Grant, chair of the Russell Group, added: We share the report's identification of the "extreme disparities in the academic performance of schools in the UK".??

However, we are disappointed that the report fails fully to consider a number of other subtler but crucial factors which impact admissions disparities. For example, the fact that independent pupils are far more likely to take STEM subjects and classical and modern languages - key entry routes to Russell Group universities and the significant variation within the top A-grade bracket of A-level scores."

Notes:

1. The purpose of The Russell Group is to provide thought leadership and strategic direction for the 20 major research-intensive universities of the UK; we aim to ensure that policy development in a wide range of issues relating to higher education is underpinned by a robust evidence base and a commitment to civic responsibility, improving life chances, raising aspirations and contributing to economic prosperity and innovation.

2. Formed in 1994 at a meeting convened in the Hotel Russell, London, the Group is composed of the Vice-Chancellors/Principals of the Universities listed opposite. In 2004/5, Russell Group Universities accounted for 65% (over £1.8 billion) of UK Universities' research grant and contract income, 56% of all doctorates awarded in the United Kingdom, and over 30% of all students studying in the United Kingdom from outside the EU. In the 2001 national Research Assessment Exercise, 78% of the staff in Grade 5* departments and 57% of the staff in Grade 5 departments were located in Russell Group Universities, and in 2004/5 Russell Group Universities were allocated approximately 64% of the total quality-related research funding (QR) allocated by the Funding Councils.