Oxford admissions tutor: only radical school reform will significantly widen access

What I find impossible to understand is why I can't understand why Oxbridge (or indeed UCL) have never had the courage to test their presumptions by doing proper experimental tests.  It wouldn't be very hard. Stratify A level results, accept at random people from each band.  Do interviews: use them as normal for randomly selected applicants, but ignore interview results for the others.  Check the degree results (and subsequent career) for each group.  This would make it possible to discover the effect of school and family background, and for bias in interviews.  A bit of hard evidence would be far better than a ton of training courses.  Until universities have the courage to test their admission methods, their claims to be serous about the problems won't cut much ice.

How about this for an entrance exam question: Seven percent of 6th formers attend public schools, yet they comprise 50% of our intake. Compared to the general population of 6th formers, we consistently discriminate against working class students, students from outside the home counties, and black students. Now explain why the failure of such obviously inclusive institutions like us to attract the brightest and best applicants from the country as a whole is the fault of everyone else but definitely not us.