Does racial discrimination occur in British Universities?

Two recent reports have raised disturbing questions Exploring ethnic inequalities in admission to Russell Group universities. Boliver, V. (2015) (available free via Durham University- forthcoming in the Journal Sociology) considers why ethnic minority students are less likely to be admitted to Russell Group universities than white students.

Also this week HEFCE released a report which considered race, sex, ethnicity , age and the REF. It founded marked gender imbalances. 67% of men were selected, compared with 51% of women.  Black and Asian UK and non-EU nationals also had statistically significant lower selection rates.  The full data and methodology can be downloaded from the website