State school applications to Oxford University have hit a record high whilst private school applications drop to their lowest level in decades.

New data released by the university shows that applicants from state schools last year rose to 9,965, up 4 per cent on the year before.

The number of applications from private school pupils dropped 6 per cent from the year before to 3,855, the lowest number since 2001.

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The proportion of students admitted from state schools was 68.1 per cent in 2022, an increase of 7.6 per cent from 2018.

Since 2018, the success rate for private school students receiving an offer has fallen from around 23 per cent to 20 per cent.

Private school pupils admitted in 2022 made up 31.9 per cent of UK undergraduates, up slightly from 31.8 per cent in the previous year but down from 39.5 per cent in 2018.

A spokesman for the Independent Schools Council told The Daily Telegraph: “While Oxford applications have declined over the past few years, we have seen a rise in the number of independent school students applying to Cambridge.

"There will also be other factors at play here, including small but increasing numbers of students opting to study abroad.”

They added: “Using school type as a determiner of advantage is a blunt instrument.”

The University received 23,819 applications in 2022, down from a record high of 24,338 in 2021.

The offer rate in 2022 was 15.3 per cent, with 3,271 undergraduate students being admitted, of which 79.4 per cent were from the UK, 3.8 per cent from the EU, and 16.8 per cent from other countries. 

Of UK undergraduate students 22.9 per cent came from the least advantaged backgrounds with 7.3 per cent being eligible for free school meals and more than a quarter identified as Black and Minority Ethnic (BME). 

Applications from EU students have plummeted since 2018, with a decline from 2,687 in 2018 to 1,787 in 2022.

Non-EU applications, however, have risen significantly, from 5,816 to 7,463 in the same period.

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Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Irene Tracey, said: "It is encouraging to see that steady progress continues to be made to ensure that those with the highest academic potential, from all backgrounds, can realise their aspirations to study here despite admissions continuing to be increasingly competitive.  

"Our students reflect the UK’s diversity in many respects, and we want to maintain long-term progress in this area. 

"To support this ambition, we will continue to innovate and to build on the success of our existing outreach initiatives to increase our engagement with people across the UK and support, inspire, and motivate bright students to realise their academic potential and aspirations, and we hope to foster a love of learning and consider Oxford as a place truly for them."

A spokesman for Oxford University told The Times: “In 2022, almost 24,000 applications for undergraduate study were made, and we welcomed more than 3,000 students who successfully demonstrated their academic potential through one of the most competitive application processes in the world.

“Over the past five years, students from a wider range of backgrounds than ever have joined the university, including from areas of low progression to higher education and from areas of social and economic disadvantage.”

The university added that “everyone at Oxford is chosen based on academic potential and ability alone”.