White pupils 'least likely to go to university'

The poorest Chinese pupils are more likely to go to university than the richest white pupils

White British pupils on average are the least likely ethnic group to go to university, says an analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

It shows that youngsters from Chinese and Indian backgrounds are the most likely to enter university.

The poorest Chinese pupils are more likely to go to university than the richest white pupils.

The study says the proportion of ethnic minority youngsters going to university is "very high on average".

Report authors Claire Crawford and Ellen Greaves say that the difference is greater than any previous gap in exam results, suggesting there must be "other factors that are more common amongst ethnic minority families than amongst white British families".

The study looks at the differences in terms of social background as well as ethnicity.

It found that white British pupils from the poorest families were the least likely to go to university.

But almost as high a proportion of the poorest Indian youngsters went to university as the wealthiest white British pupils.

The analysis shows that the ethnic categories of black African and black Caribbean both have higher rates of going to university than their white British counterparts.