More than 35 academics are applying for every lecturer’s position and 22 are chasing every research post at Britain’s leading universities, new figures show.

Recently published equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) reports by the universities of Cambridge and Oxford that contain breakdowns of applicant and job offer tallies offer a rare insight into the success rates of scholars applying to the UK’s oldest universities.

According to Cambridge’s , a total of 4,874 people applied for 137 academic positions in 2023-24 – almost 36 applicants for every position, equivalent to a success rate of 2.8 per cent.

Women were marginally more likely to be shortlisted (21.3 per cent were interviewed) and offered an academic job (2.9 per cent of applicants were successful) than men, whose shortlisting and offer rates were 17.2 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

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However, more men were appointed than women (75 to 49), reflecting how application numbers from men were 75 per cent higher than from women.

For research positions at Cambridge, application volumes were higher although success rates were slightly better. Of the 32,924 people who applied for a research position in 2023-24, 1,520 were offered a job – a 4.6 per cent success rate. Success rates for men and women were identical (4.5 per cent).

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Less comprehensive data on academic hiring was provided in , published last month, but statistics show that only about 4 per cent of male applicants for associate professor positions were successful in 2023-24 – about 25 applicants per vacancy. For female applicants, the success rate was 7 per cent – about 14 applicants per position.

About twice as many men (61 per cent of applicants) applied for such positions as women (27 per cent of applicants), with the gender of 12 per cent of applicants not known.

Robin Mellors-Bourne, director (research and intelligence) at CRAC-Vitae, which supports researcher career development, said the figures offered a useful insight into UK competition for jobs given there is “very little data to be found” about institutional hiring.

“Statistics are published about some early career fellowship schemes, which suggest there are around 10 applicants per award for key ones,” he said.

However, many academics might not regard 25 or 30 applications for a position as “extreme or ultra competition”, said Mellors-Bourne.

“Hundreds or sometimes thousands of people apply for attractive graduate schemes, where there may well be a single or a handful of vacancies. My son was one of over 300 people who applied for the apprenticeship he won – to be a car mechanic,” he said.

Asked whether more universities should publish their recruitment data to inform applicants about their chances of success, Mellors-Bourne felt the information was more valuable for assessing internal selection processes.

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“It forces [institutions] to look to see if they have sufficient data to develop results, and only with data can they potentially consider the inclusivity of their processes,” he said.

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Ethnic minority academics applying for jobs at Cambridge were much less likely to win an academic position (1.3 per cent success rate) than a white applicant (3 per cent). In research, white applicants were three times more likely to secure a job (9.1 per cent of applicants were successful) compared to ethnic minority applicants (2.6 per cent success rate).

At Oxford, 10 per cent of ethnic minority applicants for academic posts were successful in 2023-24 compared with 14 per cent of white applicants who accepted a job offer, while the equivalent figures for ethnic minority and white applicants for research posts were 14 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

Providing academics and researchers with a sense of their chances of success was a good idea and other institutions should be encouraged to publish recruitment data in the interests of transparency, said Gill Evans, emeritus professor of medieval theology and intellectual history at Cambridge, claiming it was “the right and proper thing to do.”

“I doubt if it will put off any applicants – an Oxbridge academic job is a major privilege in many ways – wouldn’t you want to have a go if an [opportunity] was advertised?”

The latest figures may reassure applicants to Oxbridge that “there’s not much imbalance against women now”, added Evans. “That used to depend on colleges, but they are all mixed…in both universities.

“When I accepted a fellowship at Sidney Sussex in Cambridge there were 50 male fellows and three women. That’s better balanced now.”

Responding to the figures in its report, a Cambridge spokesperson said the university was “committed to tackling recruitment disparities across all staff categories,” adding its upcoming 2025-2030 action plan “will aim to address BAME recruitment gaps, by identifying and addressing the barriers facing applicants”.

An Oxford spokesperson said the university is “committed to fostering excellence through diversity, welcoming top talent from all backgrounds” and had “made significant progress in improving representation across ethnicities among our students and staff, with many targets already met and others within reach”.

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com