Ethnic increase

The proportion of students from ethnic minority backgrounds entering higher education rose between 2001-02 and 2002-03, figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show. The percentage of non-white first-year first-degree students in this period increased from 16.9 per cent to 17.2 per cent, and across all new entrants the proportion of non-white students rose from 14.1 per cent to 14.7 per cent.