Black students are far more likely to face a fraud probe when applying for university
Black students are far more likely to have their university applications flagged for potential fraud or errors than any ethnic group, it has emerged.
More than half the applications flagged by the university application service Ucas between 2013 and 2017 were from students from black backgrounds.
But because only a tenth of all applications come from black youngsters, this means that they are selected disproportionately for fraud probes.
On average, one in 100 black applicants is flagged by Ucas's verification service, compared with one in 2,000 white ones.
Ucas, which published the statistics, said the reason was unclear because its flagging process was blind to ethnicity.
More than half the applications flagged by the university application service Ucas (pictured, the website) between 2013 and 2017 were from students from black backgrounds
It promised to work with ethnic minority organisations to solve the issue.
However, Labour MP David Lammy said: 'It is simply not good enough for Ucas to say that they do not know why black applicants are so much more likely to be flagged up by Ucas admissions systems.
'Ucas needs to be able to explain this huge disproportionality and satisfy students from ethnic minorities that their applications will be looked upon fairly.'
Ucas said its verification service was set up to prevent would-be students gaining an unfair advantage or a higher education place through deception.
It uses fraud-detection software and systems for detecting similarities and duplicates between applications.
There is also an alerting system for universities and colleges that believe an application warrants further investigation.
Labour MP David Lammy (pictured) said: 'It is simply not good enough for Ucas to say that they do not know why black applicants are so much more likely to be flagged up by Ucas admissions systems'
But ethnicity and nationality play no part in these systems, and are not used in deciding to flag an application, Ucas said.
Once an application is flagged, Ucas's verification team investigates further, by checking information with applicants, or investigating potential fraud, for example.
Ucas said black applicants made up around 9 per cent of all university applicants over the five years from 2013 to 2017, but 52 per cent of all of those who had applications flagged in this period.
In comparison, white students made up 73 per cent of applicants in this period and accounted for 19 per cent of applications flagged.
Asian students made up 11 per cent of applicants and 16 per cent of those flagged.
In addition, a higher proportion of black students had their applications cancelled once they had been flagged – more than any other ethnic group.
The total number of applications flagged is small. Out of 2.9million applications in five years, 5,160 were flagged.
Ucas chief executive Clare Marchant said: 'Ucas uses industry-standard software to screen applications for fraud.
'This analysis gives us confidence we are only cancelling applications where there's clear evidence of fraud or missing information.
'However, there is more work for us to do to ensure that flagging is as robust as it can be across all areas of the verification service.'
Ilyas Nagdee, the black students' officer for the National Union of Students, said: 'Until this is properly addressed and investigated we risk prospective black students losing all confidence in what is supposed to be a fair and equitable application process. All students must be able to have faith in the application process.'