White Oxford applicants favored

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OXFORD, England, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Britain's Oxford University is twice as likely to admit white students to some competitive courses as non-whites with the same grades, statistics reveal.

Figures for applications in 2010 and 2011, obtained by The Guardian newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, show 25.7 percent of white applicants got an offer to attend the university, compared with 17.2 percent of minority applicants.

The Guardian said white applicants for the prestigious medical courses were twice as likely to be placed as non-white applicants, even when they had the same grades.

Earlier figures for Cambridge University showed the same disparity, the newspaper reported.

Admissions tutors do not necessarily know the race of candidates who do not make it to the interview process, The Guardian said, although they see their full name and details of their past schooling.