Awarding gaps in higher education by ethnicity, schooling and family background: a UK university case study

It is well established that UK students who had attended private schools before university perform less well at university, on average, than students educated in state schools. Using data for a particular university, we find that while this result holds for White students, among Black, Asian and Mixed Ethnicity ('BAME') students private schooling is – on average – associated positively with degree class; again this is true regardless of gender but is stronger among males. This is driven by a strong positive association among Black students and students of Mixed Ethnicity. Among Asian students, there is no association on average – but this conceals a strong negative association for those from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds.