Top Universities 'Becoming More Exclusive' Top-flight universities have been warned to "up their game" after a new report shows they are awarding places to fewer students from state schools and poor families compared with a decade ago. The Government's Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission suggests that the nation's most academically selective universities are becoming less socially representative, and have "a long way to go" to ensure that all potential students have a chance of gaining a place. It found that there were 126 fewer students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds at Russell Group universities - 24 of the UK's most selective universities, including Oxford and Cambridge - in 2011/12 than there were in 2002/03. Alan Milburn: 'We cannot be complacent' The findings also showed that the number of state school pupils starting a degree at a top university increased by 1,464 between 2002/03 and 2011/12. But it added that nearly half of the new places created at Russell Group institutions in the last decade have gone to private school students, with the number of privately-educated pupils increasing by 1,426. Overall, this means that the proportion of young, full-time state-educated undergraduates at Russell Group universities has fallen from 75.6% to 74.6% over the period. And the proportion of state-educated young undergraduates from poorer families fell from 19.9% to 19% during the same period. The Commission said the most selective universities needed to be "recruiting from the widest possible pool of talent" and added that it would be looking for "evidence of a step change" in the years to come. Alan Milburn, chair of the commission, said: "It is clear that there is an increasing determination on the part of our universities to do their bit in creating a Britain that is more socially mobile. But we cannot be complacent: there is a long way to go to ensure that there is fair access to our best universities. They need to up their game. David Willetts: 'Committed to improving social mobility' Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of Russell Group, said many reasons why state-educated pupils and poorer students were under-represented could not be solved by universities alone. "Ultimately too few students from some state schools get the right grades in the right subjects and even those who do are less likely to apply to leading universities," she said. The report comes just weeks after the Office for Fair Access warned that England's top universities had made "little or no headline progress" in recruiting students from poorer families in recent years, despite spending millions of pounds. Universities Minister David Willetts said: "We are committed to improving social mobility, and are pleased that this year the level of university applications from the most disadvantaged 18-year-olds are at their highest proportion ever."