Professor Diane Reay accused Oxbridge universities of "accentuating elitism," branding them as "a finishing school for the private school system." She made the comments in a report for the race relations think tank the Runnymede Trust.
Reay, a professor of education at Cambridge, argued despite attempts to attract more youngsters from poorer backgrounds, black and white working class students were still likely to find themselves in a minority at institutions like Oxford and Cambridge. She also added that many working class students at Cambridge saw the university as "a white, middle class bubble".
The research from the trust states the Oxbridge application process assumes "the vast majority of their intakes will be aged 18 with very high A-level scores" and the universities "don't allow students to work in term time". This, it argues, excludes the majority of black and minority ethnic (BME) students and equates to positive discrimination, "bestowing advantage on the already advantaged".
Just last year, it was revealed just 57.4% of Oxford entrants came from state school backgrounds. At Cambridge, state school admissions accounted for 63% of undergraduate entrants in 2014.
