New figures show that on average ex-Bilborough College students have once again achieved higher classes of degrees than their counterparts from state, independent schools and other sixth form colleges across the UK.
A total of 87.02 per cent of students from Bilborough College achieved a first or upper second class honours degree at university in the 2016/17 academic year – a rise from last year’s figure of 84.93 per cent.
This year’s figure compares to 78.62 per cent from sixth form colleges, 76.94 per cent from state schools and 85.80 per cent from independent schools across the country.
The figures have been released by the Sixth Form Colleges Association for the 2016/17 academic year using information supplied by its 90 members and data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
Bilborough College also ranked highly in a table that shows the percentage, on average, of students across the UK who live in an area where young people do not traditionally progress to university who achieved a first or upper second class honours degree.
The statistics show that 83.33 per cent of Bilborough College students from these areas achieved top honours, compared with 71.93 per cent from state schools, 74.88 per cent from other sixth form colleges and 83.45 per cent from independent schools.
More Bilborough College students – 92.03 per cent – who attended Russell Group universities also achieved first or second class honours degrees on average, this was a rise from 87.65 last year. This year’s figure compared to 87.78 per cent from other sixth form colleges, 86.84 per cent from state schools and 89.37 per cent from independent schools.
Chris Bradford, Principal at Bilborough College, said: “Over the two years that students spend at Bilborough we try to provide a careful blend of support and challenge so that they leave here with right skills and the personal resilience, combined with a proactive approach to learning, that helps them thrive in the world outside. This applies to the world of work or to university. Once again we want to congratulate our former students who have excelled at university. In doing so they have provided some more hard evidence that this specialist approach is working.”