Oxford’s targets in its Access Agreement with the Office for Fair Access relate to increasing the proportion of UK undergraduates from the following categories:
- Students from schools and colleges which historically have had limited progression to Oxford
- Students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds
- Students from neighbourhoods with low participation in higher education
- Students with disabilities
The following table shows the number of students applying for 2012 entry (or deferred entry in 2013) who meet one or more of these Access Agreement target categories:
Applications and acceptances by Access Agreement schools target category, 2012 entry
| Total number of UK applicants |
Total number of UK applicants
from target schools and colleges |
Total accepted UK applicants |
Students accepted from target
schools |
Target students as percentage of
overall accepted UK students |
| 11,832 |
3,147 |
2,695 |
510 |
18.9% |
2) Students from socio-economically disadvantaged areas: defined as UK students coming from ACORN postcodes 4 and 5 (i.e. the least advantaged areas in the UK). The target is to increase the proportion of UK students coming from this group to 9% by 2016-17.
Applications and acceptances by Access Agreement socio-economic target category, 2012 entry
| Total number of UK applicants
matched with ACORN postcode data 1 |
Total number of UK applicants
from ACORN postcodes 4 and 5 |
Total number of accepted UK
applicants matched with ACORN postcode data |
Students accepted from ACORN
postcodes 4 and 5 |
Target students as percentage of
overall accepted UK students matched with ACORN
postcode data |
| 11,656 |
1,079 |
2,658 |
179 |
6.7% |
- The ACORN dataset is used to determine socio-economic disadvantage at a postcode level. ACORN stands for ‘A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods’. It is a geodemographic information system categorising all UK postcodes into one of five broad types, based on census data and other information. Data on a whole range of factors including job type, education level, property type and unemployment feed in to the categorisation. It is used in marketing as well as being used widely for public policy and planning. The ACORN categories 4 and 5 (‘moderate means’ and ‘hard pressed’) are those on which Oxford will focus.
3) Students from neighbourhoods with low participation in higher education: defined as UK students coming from POLAR 2 quintiles 1 and 2 (the postcode areas with the lowest rates of progression to higher education, representing the 40% of school leavers least likely to progress to higher education). The target is to increase the proportion of UK students coming from this group to 13% by 2016-17.
Applications and acceptances by Access Agreement low participation target category, 2012 entry
| Total number of UK applicants
matched with POLAR2 postcode data 1 |
Total number of UK applicants
from POLAR2 quintile one and two postcodes |
Total number of accepted UK
applicants matched with POLAR2 postcode data |
Students accepted from POLAR2
quintile one and two postcodes |
Target students as percentage of
overall accepted UK students matched with POLAR2
postcode data |
| 11,683 |
1,466 |
2,670 |
283 |
10.6% |
- The POLAR 2 postcode dataset is used by the government and HEFCE for identifying low participation in higher education. POLAR – ‘Participation Of Local Areas’ - is a series of maps showing the participation of young people in higher education for different geographical areas. The data is based on the proportion of young people in an area who go on to enter higher education aged 18 or 19. The POLAR maps and data sets show how the chances of young people entering higher education vary by where they live. The data is broken down into 5 groups (quintiles). Quintile 1 represents the fifth of areas with the lowest participation rates in higher education. Quintile 5 has the highest. Oxford is interested in quintiles 1 and 2, in other words the 40% of school leavers least likely to progress to higher education. For more information on POLAR, including FAQs, see: www.hefce.ac.uk/widen/polar/
4) Disabled students: The target is to continue to meet or exceed the HEFCE benchmark that disabled students make up 3.2% of the total undergraduate population.
