Slight fall in the number of MPs who attended university

The overall number of MPs who have attended university has gone down slightly following the election, according to analysis by studee.com.

Before the election, 86% of MPs had gone to university, but this has now dropped to 85%. There are now 99 MPs who have not had a university education.

The study has also found that a smaller percentage of male MPs have been to university compared to female MPs. The gap between the two has narrowed however, with the percentage of female MPs who have attended university dropping from 90% to 86%, and the proportion of male MPs staying at 84%.

Interestingly, although the number of MPs who have gone to university has dropped by just 1%, those who attended Oxbridge has dropped by 3%, from 22% to 19%. This shows that perhaps the supposed influence of Oxford and Cambridge graduates on UK politics is beginning to slip.

Of the MPs that went to Oxbridge, 70% represent the Conservative Party, up 12% from the previous government. Labour MPs make up the vast majority of the difference, representing 28%, with the other 2% coming from the Liberal Democrats. Although they now boast 48 seats, not one SNP MP attended either Oxford or Cambridge.

When it comes to the most popular universities that MPs attend, the top 4 remains unchanged following the election. Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics and Manchester still lead the way for providing the most MPs. Further down the list, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Durham keep their places in the top 10, but there are now places for Birmingham and Exeter, with Aberystwyth dropping out.

The most popular degrees studied by MPs before and after the election have changed slightly, with the top six remaining politics, law, economics, history and philosophy. Only the order has changed, with history now the 2nd most popular subject after politics, and law and economics slipping one place each.

Laura Rettie, Vice President of Global Communications at Studee comments: “It’s surprising to see there’s been a decrease in the number of MPs who went to university, especially because historically the perception of Conservative MPs has been different. The typical Conservative MP appears to be evolving.

"There isn’t a precise recipe for election success, but our research demonstrates studying certain subjects at a handful of universities still has an overwhelming influence on your chances of becoming an MP."