When it comes to race, UK journalism is a whitewash. Fewer than 7% of journalists and editors come from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to the Professional Publishers Association (PPA). Given that most of the UK’s journalism industry is based in London, where ethnic minorities make up over 30% of the population, this is clearly an under-representation.

Once young adults from ethnic minorities have made it to university, there are fought-over schemes and bursaries to encourage diversity in journalism. PPA runs MagNet, a scheme which pairs ethnic monitority students with a mentor from the industry. PPA says that this scheme gives students the opportunity “to overcome any barrier caused by his or her racial group” while helping “media owners to engage outstanding new talent”.

All of which sounds great, but there’s a catch. The students must already be studying on a PTC-accredited postgraduate journalism course.

Similarly, The Scott Trust sponsors the Journalism Diversity Fund which helps put aspiring journalists from ethnic minorities through NCTJ-accredited courses. But these courses are usually dominated by students educated at the UK’s top universities. It’s in access to these universities that the problem lies.

Last month almost a quarter of UK universities and colleges were slammed for failing to meet their own targets for admitting students from disadvantaged backgrounds – a demographic in which ethnic minorities are still disproportionately overrepresented. Year on year Oxbridge colleges famously admit black students in single figures.

Diversity schemes like MagNet and Journalism Diversity Fund are wonderful for encouraging wannabe hacks from ethnic minority who have made it to higher education. They also serve to highlight the lack of diversity as a problem at the heart of this country’s journalism.

But the problem goes far deeper than these schemes can reach. There is only so much that the journalism industry can do while the school system fails to get students from diverse backgrounds into universities. What the industry could do is to target ethnic minority students before they’ve left school. Work placements and mentors for students at GCSE level could promote journalism as an aspiration among under-represented groups.

But as long as the industry relies on employing university graduates while our university populations do not reflect our national diversity, these schemes are but a drop in the ocean.