They calculate that high-achieving children from privileged backgrounds in England have a 53 per cent chance of entering a Russell Group university, compared with a one in four chance for their disadvantaged peers. The chances of not entering higher education at all are one in 20 and one in five, respectively.
The results for the US were similar, with high-achieving children from advantaged backgrounds having a 58 per cent chance of entering a highly selective university, compared with 27 per cent for the less privileged group. The prospects of not entering any university were 8 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively.
