Some elite universities still admit?only a fraction of their undergraduate intake from within their own region despite efforts to open up places for local students in recent years.

Experts have repeatedly warned that a lack of locally recruited students can cause a disconnect with surrounding communities, amplifying the ¡°town and gown¡± criticisms of top institutions.

Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) data provided to 51³Ô¹Ï shows that 48 per cent of all attended a Universities UK (UUK) institution within their local region in 2023-24. This was down from 49 per cent among the same 136 institutions included in the data in 2022-23.

Durham University, which was already one of the institutions that drew the lowest proportion of its students from its local region, saw a 10 per cent fall in students from the north east in the period. Just 8.8 per cent (1,125) of its domestic students were from the region last year ¨C down from 9.3 per cent in 2022-23 and the third year in a row it has fallen.

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When the 4,210 full-time first-degree students from overseas are included, the proportion drops to?only 6.6 per cent ¨C about one in 15.

A Durham spokesperson said its new access and participation plan included targeted outreach programmes and contextual admissions, with the aim of attracting more students from the north east ¨C a region with the lowest progression and A-level attainment rates in the country. ¡°We acknowledge there is still work to be done and remain committed to making further progress.¡±

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International first-degree students outnumbered local ones at 22 universities in 2023-24. The number is likely to be much higher if postgraduate students were included.

Other elite institutions with repeated years of low proportions of local students include Loughborough University (11.9 per cent from the East Midlands), the University of Warwick (13.1 per cent from the West Midlands) and the University of Cambridge (13.5 per cent from the east of England).

Across the whole of the Russell Group, 31 per cent of UK first-degree full-time students were from within the local region ¨C down from 34 per cent in 2022-23. This was largely a result of growing their student populations.

Although the proportion at post-1992 universities is much higher, some of these institutions have seen the biggest changes in their student body in recent years as a result of growing their domestic student population.

The number of south west students at Bath Spa University is relatively unchanged, but the proportion fell from 40.8 per cent in 2020-21 to 11.8 per cent in 2023-24.

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A spokesperson for Bath Spa said the figures reflect that it attracts students from a diverse range of backgrounds and locations across the UK, while it has also increased its student population at its London site.

Similarly, the proportion of students from the south east fell from 56.2 per cent to just 19.8 per cent at Canterbury Christ Church University over the same period as the student body grew.

A spokesperson said the university has been proud to support local communities across Kent and the south east with access to higher education opportunities.

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¡°In addition, we have significantly expanded our collaborative partnerships through our widening participation strategy, which supports students beyond Kent, Medway, and East Sussex,¡± they added.

In contrast, almost all students at Ulster University come from Northern Ireland, and almost all of those at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Robert Gordon University and Glasgow Caledonian University come from Scotland.

The English university with the highest proportion of local students in the data was the University of Wolverhampton, with 85.2 per cent from the West Midlands.

It was followed by Regent¡¯s University London (82.6 per cent from the capital) and the University of Bradford (82.5 per cent from Yorkshire and the Humber).

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The Hesa figures do not include every provider because some have not given permission for their data to be released in this way.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com