Working-class white students were excluded from a postgraduate course at Cambridge to ‘give opportunities to students from underrepresented groups’
- Students from underrepresented groups could register for the course
- The decision was subsequently reversed to base applicants on socioeconomic factors
The University of Cambridge banned working-class white students from any of its postgraduate courses, it was reported.
Instead, students from underrepresented groups were given the opportunity to enroll in the program at the prestigious institution.
Cambridge University‘s School of Arts and Humanities (SAH) advertised “an exciting new broadening participation project” to “give students from under-represented groups the opportunity to experience postgraduate research in Cambridge”, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
The school told its teachers that it relied “more on Oxbridge applicants than most other schools” at the university.
It was reported that about 40 percent of applicants to the school are from Oxbridge pathways, compared to 25 to 30 percent in college.
The school told its teachers that it relied “more on Oxbridge applicants than most other schools” at the university. Pictured: aerial drone view of King’s College Cambridge
The school said the scheme was subsequently introduced to address this as there was ‘huge gap between Oxbridge’s offerings and others – and most of our under-represented groups were applying from outside Oxbridge’.
Teachers at the school were told, The Sunday Telegraph reported: ‘The program will be announced for second or third year RUG students [undergraduate] students of Black, Black British, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or British Pakistani, British Bangladeshi students studying in traditional research-intensive universities, planning to continue their studies in 2024’.
The announcement sparked anger among many who were angry at the non-white demand.
The university has since reversed this plan after concerns from many in the institution’s community. The program is now open to a broader group defined by socioeconomic factors rather than race – including working-class white students.
Professor David Abulafia of Cambridge’s Gonville and Caius College, said The Sunday Telegraph: ‘It is good that the program has been recalibrated, so that disadvantage instead of race is the criterion.
The racial criterion seemed to assume that non-white students are automatically disadvantaged. Isn’t that a bit racist?’
The announcement of the school sparked anger among many who were angry at the non-white demand. Pictured: King’s College Chapel and Clare College Cambridge
A second Cambridge Lecturer in Divinity, Dr. James Orr, told the story The Sunday Telegraph: ‘[This] kind of opportunity should definitely be available to everyone based on merit and need, not ethnic background.
‘Students from ethnic minorities don’t need a helping hand from the university to move on to graduation research.’
The university’s scheme allows four interns to spend six weeks at the college during the summer. They are paid the real living wage and receive housing on campus. Students work 35 hours a week before writing a 4,000-word essay.