LONDON: Britain’s older universities are revealed as institutionally racist in a startling new study of entry into higher education.

Described as proof of the existence of an “ethnic penalty,” the research reveals a clear bias against non-white candidates in the traditional institutions with a distinct pecking order of entrenched discrimination against individual ethnic groups.

Discrimination against Chinese and black Caribbean applicants appeared to be relatively weak, but Pakistanis, Indians, black Africans and even the Irish were the least preferred students.

In contrast, the reverse was the case at Britain’s newer universities, created after 1992, with some actively favouring ethnic minorities.

The authors of the study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, claim that their findings show a disturbing pattern of entry into the UK’s higher education, which, combined with racism in the jobs market, has far-reaching social implications in creating a cumulative pattern of disadvantage.

Complaints of racism in higher education are increasing in the UK and there have been several high-profile cases in the past few months. In May there was controversy over the University of Sussex’s decision not to sack Prof Geoffrey Sampson, who wrote an article on his website entitled “There’s nothing wrong with racism,” and said there was evidence that blacks were less intelligent than whites.

Two years ago, a damning report found that one in five academics from ethnic minorities had personally experienced discrimination in promotion and racial harassment from staff or students.

There is not one black academic in the top ranking positions of any British university and while at a junior level, ethnic minorities are adequately represented in academic posts, the career ladder seems blocked to them.

Oxford University is disputing four cases of allegations of racial discrimination while at the University of Manchester, Dr Aneez Esmail has been pursuing an official grievance, believing he has been the victim of institutional racism there.

This latest study will be a disappointment for the government, which introduced laws in 2000 to force universities to show they are taking positive steps to promote racial equality. —Dawn/The Observer News Service.