Minority Ethnic Students in Higher Education: interim report

This report is about research on the flows into, through and out of higher education (HE) of minority ethnic groups.

The focus is on undergraduate study in England, and presents interim findings of an initial assessment of existing research evidence on minority ethnic groups in HE, and a national survey of undergraduate students undertaken in Spring 2002. The survey explored their choices of HE study, experiences to date, financial issues and job/career plans.

Minority ethnic students have increased their representation in higher education as a whole in recent years, but are distributed unevenly across the HE sector.

There are distinctive and contrasting patterns of participation in HE study by minority ethnic groups, in particular, contrasts between Asian and Black groups. All minority ethnic groups achieve lower classes of degrees, on average, than White students; the key factors affecting degree outcomes in general are entry qualifications and prior education.