Academic Performance (Hansard, 15 September 2004)

§ Keith Vaz

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether there is evidence from trends in academic performance that(a) pupils and (b) students

Attainment of five or more GCSE grades A^*-C in year 11 by ethnic group: 1991–2001
	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997¹	1998	1999	2000	2001
Weighted sample	24,922	—	18,020	—	15,899	—	14,662	—	13,698	—	16,707
Percentage
All	37	—	42	—	44	—	46	—	49	—	51
White	37	—	43	—	45	—	47	—	50	—	52
Black	23	—	21	—	23	—	29	—	39	—	36
Asian	33	—	36	—	38	—	45	—	48	—	52
Indian	38	—	45	—	48	—	54	—	60	—	60
Pakistani	26	—	24	—	23	—	29	—	29	—	40
Bangladeshi	14	—	20	—	25	—	33	—	29	—	41
Other Asian	46	—	50	—	61	—	61	—	72	—	64
Other ethnic group	²—	—	37	—	46	—	47	—	43	—	53
Not stated	18	—	16	—	29	—	27	—	26	—	30
¹From 1997, includes equivalent GNVQ qualifications achieved in year 11.
²Not available.
Source:
Youth Cohort Study (England and Wales) cohorts 6–11, sweep 1.

Information on achievement of students is not available from the same source, but the following table, from the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows the numbers in higher education from different ethnic groups and the proportion of these groups who obtained first or upper second class degrees:

Proportion of first degree graduates in each ethnic group achieving a first or upper second doss degree
	1997/98	2002/03
Ethnic group¹	Graduates	First or 2:1 (percentage)	Graduates	First or 2:1 (percentage)
White	180,130	53	201,355	58
Black	5,630	29	7,085	34
Indian	6,695	39	10,085	44
Pakistani	2,935	35	4,695	36
Bangladeshi	765	34	1,400	38
Chinese	1,835	44	2,525	45
Asian Other	2,095	40	2,735	46
Mixed	n/a	n/a	825	53
Other	2,820	47	3,505	52
Unknown
ethnicity	27,720	48	16,125	45
Total	230,625	51	250,335	55
n/a = not available.
¹Covers UK domiciled students only. From the academic year 2001/02 onwards, HESA has coded ethnicity using a more detailed ethnic breakdown that allows identification of those of mixed ethnicity. In years prior to this, those of mixed ethnicity will have been recorded in one of the other ethnic groups.
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)