UNIVERSITY TO RAISE £500M FOR ‘TRANSITION PROGRAMME’ TO
SUPPORT LESS WELL-OFF APPLICANTS
Cambridge University has launched a £500m fundraising
campaign to pay for a new “transition programme” to encourage and support
applications from talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds who might
otherwise not get a place.
The scheme will include an intensive three-week bridging
programme plus an additional transition year before a degree, to raise the
attainment of disadvantaged students who have academic potential but may fall
short of high entry requirements.
It comes as pressure mounts on leading universities,
especially Oxford and Cambridge, which are still dominated by white, wealthy
students, many of whom are privately educated, to widen access to those from
traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.
Figures published in June showed some Cambridge colleges admitted
no black students or accepted as few as one a year between 2012 and 2016. In
August, the grime artist Stormzy said he would fund two scholarships for black
British students to go to Cambridge.
Giving the traditional start-of-year speech to university
staff on Monday, Cambridge’s vice-chancellor, Prof Stephen Toope, said: “Can we
call ourselves a place of excellence if we are not fully inclusive of the most
diverse talent? This is not just a matter of box ticking.
“For Cambridge, this is an ethical issue. We can only expect
to have full public support for our university if we are prepared to encourage
top talent to pour in – regardless of where it flows from.”
He insisted the university would not lower admission
standards, but encouraged applications from undergraduates and postgraduates in
the UK and overseas who may have been disadvantaged as a result of their
educational journey.
He also said Cambridge could not class itself as a “truly
great” university if it was not open to social and cultural diversity. “It
falls on us to dispel the facile stereotypes of Cambridge as a bastion of
privilege and self-serving elitism,” he said.
The scheme follows a similar initiative at Oxford
University’s Lady Margaret Hall, headed by the former Guardian editor-in-chief
Alan Rusbridger, which in turn was based on a programme used by Trinity College
Dublin.
Cambridge was unable to offer any detail on how many
disadvantaged students might be supported, because of the current uncertainty
in the sector pending the outcome of the government’s post-18 education review by
Philip Augar, but the £500m will also go towards other forms of student support
including mental health help for students facing difficulties.
Lee Elliot Major, the chief executive of the Sutton Trust,
which promotes social mobility through education, said: “Young people from
low-income homes are seriously underrepresented at top universities and we will
need radical change to shift this.
“A new transition programme for low-income students could do
much to widen participation and provide additional support for those students
who need it most. But it will be important that Cambridge invests in careful
and robust evaluation to make sure it is implemented in the most effective
way.”
