Jonathan Booth writes for the University of Cambridge’s Varsity Online about attitudes towards universities which are seen to favour ‘privileged’ students:
Freshers eagerly flicking through your first copy of Varsity: feast your eyes on gory stories about Access problems. Read all about the elitism rife in this decrepit institution; see, in high definition, shocking statistics about the lack of working class people and the dearth of ethnic minorities; look at the centuries-old snobbery that pervades this training ground of tomorrow’s leaders.
But, joy of joys, some positive news: there is a new higher education Access tsar, Les Ebdon, and a new Director of Admissions at Cambridge, Mike Sewell. Change is coming. The former says top universities need to be set more challenging targets regarding the admission of students from non-traditional backgrounds. The latter says that the university cannot be forced to ‘exactly mirror’ society. Oh, the more things change, the more things stay the same…
I remember the day of my interview. Wandering into ‘King’s News’ for some mints (because obviously without mints I would fail my interview and thus the rest of my life) I saw a Guardian headline about how inaccessible Cambridge was for black students and those on free school dinners…
Full article here.
Don’t blame the universities: business as usual for Oxbridge-bashers
Freshers eagerly flicking through your first copy of Varsity: feast your eyes on gory stories about Access problems. Read all about the elitism rife in this decrepit institution; see, in high definition, shocking statistics about the lack of working class people and the dearth of ethnic minorities; look at the centuries-old snobbery that pervades this training ground of tomorrow’s leaders.
But, joy of joys, some positive news: there is a new higher education Access tsar, Les Ebdon, and a new Director of Admissions at Cambridge, Mike Sewell. Change is coming. The former says top universities need to be set more challenging targets regarding the admission of students from non-traditional backgrounds. The latter says that the university cannot be forced to ‘exactly mirror’ society. Oh, the more things change, the more things stay the same…
I remember the day of my interview. Wandering into ‘King’s News’ for some mints (because obviously without mints I would fail my interview and thus the rest of my life) I saw a Guardian headline about how inaccessible Cambridge was for black students and those on free school dinners…
Full article here.
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About the author
Deputy Editor. Beckie is a final-year Japanese student at the University of Leeds. She is Editor-in-Chief of Lippy: No Gloss and Features Editor of Leeds Student.