Equality, diversity and student characteristics data

These pages contain information about equality, diversity and student characteristics data for those studying at English higher education providers. For the full report, please see our equality, diversity and student characteristics publication.

These statistics are published as part of our specific duties under the Equality Act 2010, which applies to the Office for Students (OfS) as a provider of public services. See more information on our public sector equality duty.

This release extends the coverage of our access and participation data dashboard, to report on sector-level trends in student characteristics for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and UK and non-UK domiciled students.

Our official statistics include the proportion and numbers of students in higher education by age, disability, ethnicity, sex, religion or belief, and sexual orientation, which are characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010. We also report on the following additional characteristics: gender identity, parental education, free school meals eligibility, Participation of Local Areas (POLAR4) and the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).

Our experimental statistics report the proportion and numbers of UK domiciled undergraduates in higher education by care experience, Household Residual Income (HRI), estrangement, socioeconomic background, tracking underrepresentation by area (TUNDRA) and associations between characteristics of students (ABCS) access quintiles.

Findings

Age

Full-time undergraduate courses are most commonly studied by students under the age of 21 on entry (70.4 per cent of entrants in 2019-20), whereas part-time undergraduate qualifications are most commonly studied by students aged 31 to 40 (25.3 per cent of entrants in 2019-20).

Roughly two-thirds of full-time postgraduate entrants in 2019-20 were aged 21 to 25 (69.2 per cent), having risen 6.0 percentage points since 2010-11.

Disability

In 2019-20, 14.3 per cent of full-time undergraduate entrants reported having a disability, having risen 5.8 percentage points from 8.5 per cent in 2010-11.

In part-time study, the increase in the proportion of disabled entrants has been more pronounced, having risen 11.4 percentage points, from 7.6 per cent in 2010-11 to 19.0 per cent in 2019-20.

The proportion of undergraduate entrants reporting a mental health condition has risen by 3.5 percentage points since 2010-11, from 0.7 per cent to 4.2 per cent in 2019-20, which is more than any other disability type.

Ethnicity

The proportion of UK-domiciled undergraduate entrants who are white has fallen 8.7 percentage points, from 78.7 per cent in 2010-11 to 70.0 per cent in 2019-20. Meanwhile, the proportion of students from each minority ethnic group has risen.

13.3 per cent of undergraduate entrants in 2019-20 were from an Asian background, 9.7 per cent were black, 4.8 per cent were from a mixed ethnic background, and 2.2 per cent were from other minority ethnic groups.

During the last eight years, black students have seen the biggest percentage point increase in postgraduate study, rising from 5.8 per cent of postgraduate entrants in 2010-11 to 8.3 per cent in 2019-20. The proportion of postgraduate entrants who were Asian also rose 2.4 percentage points, from 9.4 per cent to 11.8 per cent over the same period.

Sex

For all years since 2010-11, the majority of undergraduate entrants have been female, standing at 55.7 per cent in 2019-20.

The difference in the proportions of male and female students within certain subjects remains large. In 2019-20, 83.5 per cent of engineering, technology and computing undergraduate entrants were male, compared to just 14.3 per cent of those studying courses in education and teaching.

Gender identity

In 2019-20, 0.9 per cent of all undergraduate entrants to English higher education providers had a gender different to the sex originally registered at birth.

By comparison, the Government Equalities Office (GEO) tentatively estimate that there are approximately 200,000-500,000 trans people in the UK, or between 0.3 and 0.8 per cent of the UK population.

Religion or belief

In 2019-20, just under half (47.5 per cent) of undergraduate entrants said they had no religion, followed by 30.9 per cent who identified as Christian, while 12.4 per cent were Muslim.

Postgraduate entrants in 2019-20 were marginally more likely to report having no religion (49.3 per cent) than undergraduate entrants.

Between 2018-19 and 2019-20, the proportion of postgraduate entrants who were Hindu rose 2.6 percentage points from 4.6 per cent to 7.2 per cent.

Sexual orientation

In 2019-20, 7.4 per cent of undergraduate entrants identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, while 2.1 per cent identified with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, lesbian, gay or bisexual.

Parental education

In 2019-20, just over half (51.3 per cent) of undergraduate entrants had a parent with a higher education qualification, remaining broadly unchanged since 2010-11 (51.5 per cent).

Amongst postgraduate entrants, an even greater proportion (57.0 per cent) had a parent with a higher education qualification, although this has fallen 2.2 percentage points since 2010-11, when it stood at 59.2 per cent.

Free school meals eligibility

Free school meals eligibility data is available for UK domiciled undergraduate students aged under 21 on entry to higher education, who attended English schools. It is commonly used as a marker of potential financial disadvantage.

In 2019-20, 17.6 per cent of full-time entrants to higher education were eligible for free school meals when they were in Key Stage 4. Pupils who are eligible for free school meals are known to be underrepresented in higher education.

Participation of Local Areas (POLAR4)

POLAR4 quintiles are reported for UK domiciled undergraduate students aged under 21 on entry. 29.8 per cent of entrants in 2019-20 came from the most represented areas in the UK, while 12.5 per cent came from the least represented areas.

Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)

21.5 per cent of English undergraduate entrants in 2019-20 were from the most deprived areas, more than any other IMD quintile.

This has risen 4.5 percentage points from 17.0 per cent in 2010-11.

Care experience

1.1 per cent of full-time UK-domiciled undergraduate entrants in 2019-20 had been in care at some point prior to their study, compared to 1.5 per cent of part-time entrants.

Household Residual Income (HRI)

HRI is assessed based on gross income (before tax and National Insurance) after accounting for certain costs such as dependents and pensions.

Information on HRI is restricted to English, Welsh and Northern Irish full-time undergraduates who reported their income to the Student Loans Company from 2011-12 onwards.

This excludes those who did not take out a loan or chose not to apply for income-dependent support. In particular, this means both students with HRI too high to qualify for extra support and any students with other indicators of low income would be less likely to report their income and may be underrepresented in the data.

In 2019-20, just under half (45.9 per cent) of full-time undergraduate entrants who were dependent on their parents had household residual income between £1 and £25,000.

Amongst full-time undergraduate students who were independent, 71.2 per cent reported their HRI as £0 in 2019-20.

Estrangement

In 2019-20 0.9 per cent of English, Welsh, and Northern Irish undergraduate entrants aged under 25 were estranged from their parents.

Socioeconomic background

More than half of all young UK domiciled full-time undergraduate entrants entering via UCAS in 2019-20 had parents from either higher (27.0 per cent) or lower (26.4 per cent) managerial and professional occupations.

These proportions are higher than for all UK 20- to 24-year-olds, for whom 13.0 per cent and 20.6 per cent have parents from higher and lower managerial and professional occupations respectively.

Tracking underrepresentation by area (TUNDRA)

TUNDRA quintiles are reported for English undergraduate students aged under 21 on entry. 29.8 per cent of full-time entrants in 2019-20 came from the most represented areas in England, while 11.4 per cent came from the least represented areas.

The proportion from the most represented areas has fallen marginally by 1.2 percentage points since 2010-11, when it stood at 31.0 per cent.

Associations between characteristics of students (ABCS) access quintiles

ABCS access quintiles show how likely groups of students are to access higher education based on a set of characteristics.

In 2019-20, amongst young English full-time undergraduate entrants from state-funded mainstream and independent schools in England, 40.7 per cent were from quintile 5, meaning they had characteristics which were most strongly associated with access to higher education. Meanwhile, 8.5 per cent were from quintile 1 – those least likely to access higher education.

Contact us

If you have any questions or feedback on these pages, please contact Stanley Rudkin at [email protected].

Last updated 08 June 2021 + show all updates

08 June 2021: Updated with the latest data
02 April 2020: Annual update of equality and diversity data

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Equality, diversity and student characteristics data

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