Oxford and Cambridge lose hundreds of local UK undergraduates – but gain even more international students, many from China

Oxford and Cambridge universities are teaching nearly 650 fewer British undergraduates than they were five years ago, despite spending millions of pounds on programmes designed to widen participation and improve access for disadvantaged UK applicants.

Meanwhile, the number of international undergraduates at both institutions is up by 840 in the same period.

Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show Oxford and Cambridge are almost alone among the competitive British universities in failing to expand their intake of domestic undergraduates while slowly increasing the proportion of sought-after places going to EU and international students.