First year entrants onto postgraduate degrees
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First year entrants onto undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
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1. Main facts and figures
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in 2015/16, there were 181,255 postgraduate entrants for whom ethnicity was known at UK higher education institutions: 79.8% were White, 9.4% were Asian, 6.1% were Black, 3.1% were from a Mixed ethnic background and 1.6% were from the Other ethnic group
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from 2007/08 to 2015/16, the number and percentage of entrants increased for all ethnic minority groups, but decreased for the White ethnic group
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over the 9 years shown here, the number of postgraduate entrants reached a high of 197,550 in 2009/10; the number of Asian and White postgraduate entrants also peaked in this year, whereas entrants from Black, Mixed and Other ethnic backgrounds reached their highest level in 2015/16
Things you need to know
Entrants from the EU and other overseas countries are not included in the statistics, as they are not asked to report their ethnic origin.
In 2015/16, the percentage of postgraduate entrants with unknown ethnicity was 3.1%.
The data only includes students whose normal residence before starting their university degree was in the UK, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
Guernsey and Jersey in this context refer to the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, which includes their smaller islands.
What the data measures
This data measures the number of students who enrolled onto postgraduate degrees in the UK, broken down by broad ethnic group.
The data includes full-time and part-time students joining a postgraduate degree. Students must have been UK residents before enrolling onto their degree.
The percentages are calculated excluding students whose ethnicity was unknown.
The ethnic categories used in this data
The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects 11 detailed categories of ethnicity.
The ethnic category groups included in the White group differ between England and Wales and Scotland and Northern Ireland. To present data for the whole of the UK, the statistics here have been aggregated into the 5 broad categories used in the:
- 2001 Census (before 2012/13)
- 2011 Census (from 2012/13 onwards)
The broad ethnic groups are:
- Asian or Asian British
- Black or Black British
- Mixed
- White
- Other
White includes:
- White Scottish (Scottish higher education institutions only)
- Irish Traveller (Northern Irish higher education institutions only), Gypsy or Traveller
- other White background (Scottish higher education institutions only)
In the 2001 Census, Chinese people were counted under the Other ethnic group. In the 2011 Census, Chinese people were counted under the Asian ethnic group.
HESA also collects data of students whose ethnicity is categorised as unknown or not applicable. This includes students:
- who did not live in the UK before starting their course
- whose place of residence before starting their course is unknown (2014/15 only)
- who refused to give ethnic information
- whose ethnicity is unknown
Data about these students is not included in the graphs and tables on this page.
2. First year entrants onto postgraduate degrees by ethnicity
| Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Asian % | Asian Number | Black % | Black Number | Mixed % | Mixed Number | White % | White Number | Other % | Other Number |
| 2007/08 | 8.3 | 13,890 | 4.8 | 7,965 | 2.0 | 3,325 | 83.6 | 139,160 | 1.3 | 2,090 |
| 2008/09 | 8.4 | 15,350 | 5.1 | 9,305 | 2.1 | 3,915 | 83.1 | 151,375 | 1.2 | 2,220 |
| 2009/10 | 8.8 | 17,310 | 5.1 | 10,075 | 2.3 | 4,550 | 82.6 | 163,210 | 1.2 | 2,405 |
| 2010/11 | 8.7 | 16,690 | 5.2 | 10,050 | 2.4 | 4,560 | 82.5 | 158,700 | 1.2 | 2,375 |
| 2011/12 | 9.2 | 16,390 | 5.7 | 10,085 | 2.7 | 4,790 | 81.1 | 144,345 | 1.4 | 2,455 |
| 2012/13 | 9.4 | 15,815 | 5.6 | 9,430 | 2.7 | 4,625 | 80.8 | 136,345 | 1.5 | 2,600 |
| 2013/14 | 9.0 | 15,890 | 5.6 | 10,000 | 2.8 | 4,910 | 81.1 | 143,560 | 1.5 | 2,715 |
| 2014/15 | 9.0 | 16,080 | 5.6 | 10,075 | 2.9 | 5,220 | 80.9 | 144,695 | 1.5 | 2,730 |
| 2015/16 | 9.4 | 17,100 | 6.1 | 11,065 | 3.1 | 5,585 | 79.8 | 144,560 | 1.6 | 2,945 |
Download table data for ‘First year entrants onto postgraduate degrees by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘First year entrants onto postgraduate degrees by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of First year entrants onto postgraduate degrees First year entrants onto postgraduate degrees by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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in 2015/16, 79.8% of postgraduate entrants were White, 9.4% were Asian, 6.1% were Black, 3.1% had Mixed ethnicity and 1.6% were from the Other ethnic group
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from 2007/08 to 2015/16, the percentage of postgraduate entrants from ethnic minorities increased from 16.4% to 20.2%; there were around 36,695 ethnic minority students in 2015/16, around 9,425 more than in 2007/08
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the greatest percentage point increase in postgraduate entrants has been among Black students, increasing from 4.8% to 6.1% - a rise of around 3,100 students to 11,065 in 2015/16
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the only percentage point decrease in postgraduate entrants has been among White students, falling from 83.6% to 79.8%; however, the total number of White postgraduate entrants fluctuated over the period, reaching a peak of 163,210 in 2009/10 and falling to a low of 136,345 in 2012/13, before rising again to 144,560 in 2015/16
3. Methodology
These statistics have been prepared by the Department for Education using the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA) student record.
The student record is used to derive the HESA standard registration population.
The standard registration population includes first-year students at registered higher education and further education providers who started their programme of study within the reporting period (1 August to 31 July).
Students must be on courses that lead to the award of a qualification or higher education credit.
In some cases the student’s first year of study may be the second or subsequent year of a postgraduate programme.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
No values needed to be suppressed. Student numbers are rounded to the nearest 5. Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Rounding
Student numbers are rounded to the nearest 5. Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Related publications
The analysis on this page relates to statistics published annually by HESA in the statistical first release Enrolments and qualifications obtained at higher education providers in the United Kingdom
Further technical information
Definitions - Students 2015/16
4. Data sources
Source
Higher education student enrolments and qualifications obtained, 2015/16
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The Higher Education Statistics Agency has been collecting student information (known as the ‘student record’) since 1994/95.
The data it contains is used extensively by various stakeholders for higher education:
- funding
- performance indicators
- publications (including UNISTATS)
- league tables
The student record collects individual data about students including:
- the student’s entry profile and personal characteristics
- module and course-level data
- funding information
- qualifications awarded
5. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, year, ethnicity, numerator, denominator and value.