The University has been ranked top in the Russell Group for its proportion of students from low participation neighbourhoods, following the annual publication of Performance Indicators by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
The Performance Indicators cover Widening Participation, non-continuation of studies and projected degree outcomes.
The proportion of students at the University from low participation neighbourhoods is 9.6%, above a benchmark of 8.4%.
23.8% of young new entrants were from Socio Economic Classes 4, 5, 6 and 7 – lower than the benchmark of 27.1%, but ranking the University equal fourth in the Russell Group for this measure, alongside Manchester.
Laura Cattell, Head of Widening Participation at the University, said: “We are really pleased to see a continued improvement in the numbers of young people from low participation neighbourhoods coming to Liverpool.
“Colleagues across the University work hard to deliver outreach projects that attract and support young people from all backgrounds. There is still progress to make and we will be setting further targets in the 2016-17 Access agreement so that we continue to maintain and improve our performance in this area.”
The proportion of young new entrants from state schools at the University is 87.7% – above a benchmark of 85.3% – a figure that places Liverpool second in the Russell Group behind Queen’s University Belfast.
The percentage of young new entrants who drop out after their first year is 4.5%, against a benchmark of 4.3%, ranking Liverpool 17th in the Russell Group.
Full results are available on the HESA website: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/.