Cambridge University set to give poorer students who fail entry requirements chance to study
Nội Dung Chính
Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email
Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter
Please enter a valid email address
Please enter a valid email address
I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice
Thanks for signing up to the
Voices Dispatches email
{{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}
Prospective students from disadvantaged backgrounds who fail to meet the University of Cambridge’s high entry requirements could now be given a chance to study at the institution.
A transitional year – for would-be students who show academic potential but fall short of the required grades for the prestigious and selective university – could be introduced for the first time.
The announcement comes after Cambridge and Oxford came under fire for a lack of diversity after some Oxbridge colleges admitted no black British students in recent years.
Recommended
Announcing the initiative in a speech to university staff, vice-chancellor Stephen Toope said it was time to dispel the stereotypes of Cambridge “as a bastion of privilege and self-serving elitism.”
He warned Cambridge could not class itself as a “truly great” university if it was not open to wide social and cultural diversity. “This is not just a matter of box-ticking,” the university boss said.
Professor Toope unveiled a £500m fundraising campaign to support students and to ensure the university was fully inclusive of the most diverse talent.
This is set to include a “transition programme” for students who may have suffered educational challenge – which would consist of a three-week bridging programme and a full transition year.
The foundation year will be aimed at people who miss out on the high entry requirements but who show enough talent to be able to go on and complete a Cambridge degree.
Many courses at Cambridge currently require students to achieve all A* and A grades at A level – and they also have to be successful at interview.
Professor Toope said: “We will continue to actively encourage applications from those eligible students – undergraduate and postgraduate, from the UK and from overseas – who may have been disadvantaged as a result of their educational journey.
”We are committed to establishing a Transitional Year programme that will raise attainment among students to compensate for the educational handicap they may have suffered.”
The fundraising campaign aims to create new post-graduate studentships, enhance financial support for undergraduates, and expand spending on mental health support.
“I want us to be genuinely open to all who have the talent to flourish at Cambridge. The challenge is considerable. But so is the scale of our ambition,” Professor Toope added.
In the summer, Stormzy announced a scholarship scheme to help Cambridge University support talented black students who might otherwise not have decided to study there.
Stormzy’s plans came after Cambridge University was criticised for failing to admit any black pupils from 2012 to 2016 and just 58 in 2017.
Professor Toope said: “It falls on us to dispel the facile stereotypes of Cambridge as a bastion of privilege and self-serving elitism.
“Let us prove instead – by showing, not just telling – that Cambridge is increasingly open to diverse talent; that it is a spark for ideas and innovation; that it has the capacity to understand, explain and adapt to the social and economic realities of our era.”
UK news in pictures
Show all 50
1
/ 50
UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures
24 May 2023
Horses enjoy the sunny weather on Middleham Gallops in North Yorkshire
PA
UK news in pictures
23 May 2023
An aerial view of a yellow rapeseed field in Hemel Hempstead, Britain
Reuters
UK news in pictures
22 May 2023
Manoj Malde and Clive Gillmor kiss after getting married, the first wedding ever at the Chelsea Flower Show
AP
UK news in pictures
21 May 2023
People enjoy the warm weather as they take punt tours along the River Cam in Cambridge
PA
UK news in pictures
20 May 2023
Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex
PA
UK news in pictures
19 May 2023
Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire
PA
UK news in pictures
18 May 2023
Choristers from the Choir of St John’s College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol – a custom dating back to 1902.
PA
UK news in pictures
17 May 2023
Oxfam activists wearing ‘big heads’ of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan
PA
UK news in pictures
16 May 2023
Part of a child’s jacket during a photo call for the China’s hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum
PA
UK news in pictures
15 May 2023
Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses’ (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at £60,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh
PA
UK news in pictures
14 May 2023
Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London
EPA
UK news in pictures
13 May 2023
Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
12 May 2023
Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer
PA
UK news in pictures
11 May 2023
Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Mary’s Church, Melton Mowbray
PA
UK news in pictures
10 May 2023
A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions
PA
UK news in pictures
9 May 2023
Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station
PA
UK news in pictures
8 May 2023
Britain’s Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England,
AP
UK news in pictures
6 May 2023
King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla
Getty
UK news in pictures
5 May 2023
Britain’s King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures
3 May 2023
A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III
PA
UK news in pictures
2 May 2023
Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay
PA
UK news in pictures
1 May 2023
Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking “Trump Force One” at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
30 April 2023
Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green.
PA
UK news in pictures
29 April 2023
England’s flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international women’s rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
28 April 2023
Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966
PA
UK news in pictures
27 April 2023
Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay
PA
UK news in pictures
26 April 2023
Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library
PA
UK news in pictures
25 April 2023
Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day
PA
UK news in pictures
24 April 2023
Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England
PA
UK news in pictures
23 April 2023
People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon
Getty
UK news in pictures
22 April 2023
A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham
PA
UK news in pictures
21 April 2023
A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion’s ‘The Big One’ event, in London, Britain
Reuters
UK news in pictures
20 April 2023
The funeral cortege of Paul O’Grady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwold’s Church
PA
UK news in pictures
19 April 2023
Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the ‘Online safety bill’
PA
UK news in pictures
18 April 2023
People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Tree Orchard at Alnwick Gardens in Alnwick, Northumberland
Reuters
UK news in pictures
17 April 2023
A pelican sits in St James’s Park, London
PA
UK news in pictures
16 April 2023
People take part in the Nagar Kirtan procession through the city centre in Southampton, during Vaisakhi celebrations to mark the birth of the Khalsa and to celebrate the spring harvest and the solar new year
PA
UK news in pictures
15 April 2023
Former Chelsea players and fans show the Samaritans’ 24-hour helpline number 116 123 on the back of their shirts during the launch of the TalkMoreThanFootball campaign from Three, during halftime of Chelsea v Brighton at Stamford Bridge, London
PA
UK news in pictures
14 April 2023
Protesters outside York Magistrates’ Court, where Patrick Thelwell is charged with threatening behaviour after eggs were thrown at King Charles III during his visit to York in November
PA
UK news in pictures
13 April 2023
British milliner Justin Smith, from J. Smith Esquire, with a crown he has created using 319 Scrabble tiles to mark Scrabble’s 75th anniversary and King Charles III’s coronation
PA
UK news in pictures
12 April 2023
US President Joe Biden delivers a speech on business development at Ulster University in Belfast
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
11 April 2023
People take part in a rally in Trafalgar Square in London, in support of striking NHS junior doctors, as the British Medical Association holds a 96-hour walkout in a dispute over pay
PA
UK news in pictures
10 April 2023
Masked people attack a police vehicle with petrol bombs in Derry’s Creggan area on on 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement
Getty
UK news in pictures
9 April 2023
People taking part in the annual procession in Glasgow as part of the Sikh Vaisakhi celebration to celebrate the Birth of the Sikh Nation
PA
UK news in pictures
8 April 2023
Visitors dressed in costumes during the Star Wars Celebration at the ExCel London in east London
PA
UK news in pictures
7 April 2023
Lorries queue to enter the Port of Dover in Dover, Britain
Reuters
UK news in pictures
6 April 2023
Seating being erected on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace, central London, ahead of King Charles III’s Coronation.
PA
UK news in pictures
5 April 2023
Police officers stand guard outside the home of Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon in Glasgow, Scotland
Getty
UK news in pictures
4 April 2023
Workers protest outside Google London HQ over the treatment of staff facing redundancies
PA
UK news in pictures
3 April 2023
Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union on the picket line outside the Passport Office in east London, as more than 1,000 members of the PCS working in passport offices in England, Scotland and Wales begin a five week strike as part of the civil service dispute
PA
Chris Millward, director for fair access and participation at the Office for Students, the new higher education regulator, said: “Universities should work actively to support talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress into the right university and course for them, and it is right that universities should consider the context in which qualifications are achieved when deciding on their entrance requirements.
“We know that the gap in participation between the most and least advantaged students is widest at those universities with the highest entrance requirements, so we are expecting specific, well evidenced and ambitious actions to be taken by these universities in order to bridge this gap.”
