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  "path": "/news/durham-university-anti-white-discrimination-asian-students-accepted-lower-grades",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-15T08:23:57.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "School that blocked Jewish MP sacks diversity leader over ‘heroes’ Hamas remarks",
    "Driving school giant AA slapped with £4.2m penalty for 'drip pricing' as thousands await refunds",
    "British university's pro-Palestine activists ask if students will 'go for jihad'",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nDurham University has been accused of \"anti-white discrimination\" as British-Asian students are found to have been accepted with lower grades.\n\nThe Russell Group institution launched a new initiative that provides British Asian students from state schools with entry offers typically two grades below standard requirements.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe Asian Access programme, introduced for the first time this year, covers sought-after courses including psychology, law and politics.\n\nParticipants receive a complimentary summer school experience, with accommodation, travel expenses and meals all covered by the institution.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nAccording to the university, the scheme \"aims to support students who are typically underrepresented in higher education, and particularly at Durham\".\n\nThose who complete the programme successfully receive a guaranteed alternative offer with reduced grade requirements.\n\nThe initiative has sparked immediate controversy, with critics questioning whether such measures are necessary given existing university admission statistics.\n\nRobert Jenrick, Reform Treasury spokesman, has condemned the programme as \"a blatant case of anti-white discrimination\".\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSpeaking to the Daily Mail, he described the university's approach as \"bizarre,\" arguing that British Asian students already outperform their white British counterparts academically.\n\n\"University admissions must treat students equally and stop trying to socially engineer outcomes by creating a two-tier system,\" he stated.\n\nHe pledged that his party would take action if it gains power.\n\n\"A Reform Government will end this nonsense and make our universities meritocratic once again,\" he declared.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * School that blocked Jewish MP sacks diversity leader over ‘heroes’ Hamas remarks\n  * Driving school giant AA slapped with £4.2m penalty for 'drip pricing' as thousands await refunds\n  * British university's pro-Palestine activists ask if students will 'go for jihad'\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHis intervention reflects growing political concern about contextual admissions policies at elite institutions, with questions being raised about whether such schemes achieve their stated aims of widening participation.\n\nOfficial government figures appear to undercut the programme's stated rationale of addressing underrepresentation in higher education.\n\nData from 2024 reveals that 51.4 per cent of Asian state school pupils across England secured university places, compared with just 29.8 per cent of white students.\n\nChinese pupils recorded the highest acceptance rate at 66.1 per cent, whilst black pupils stood at 48 per cent.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThese statistics demonstrate that Asian teenagers are already significantly more likely to gain university admission than applicants from other ethnic backgrounds, with more than half of sixth-formers successfully obtaining places.\n\nCritics have seized upon these numbers to argue that lowering entry requirements for a group that already outperforms white students academically represents a fundamental contradiction in the university's approach.\n\nDurham University has defended its approach, with a spokesman stating: \"We encourage applications from talented students of all backgrounds.\n\n\"Our admissions decisions are fair, non-discriminatory and based on published entry criteria.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe institution explained it had reached an agreement with the Office for Students to boost numbers of British Asian students, who it maintains are underrepresented at Durham specifically, alongside other underrepresented groups.\n\nThe university emphasised that participants are selected from areas with low rates of progression to higher education.\n\nDurham is not alone in facing scrutiny over such policies, as Oxford came under fire after data showed it admitted 16 per cent of black applicants who missed their required A-level grades over five years, versus just 6 per cent of white candidates.\n\nYork and Bristol operate similar contextual offer schemes.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Durham University accused of 'anti-white discrimination' as Asian students accepted with lower grades"
}