Private schools criticise plans to get more poor students into university

Leading private schools have challenged plans to widen access to the most selective universities in England, warning they could lead to discrimination against young people “on the basis of the class they were born into”.

The intervention by the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), which represents many of the country’s most expensive independent schools, reflects members’ concerns that new measures to improve access for the most disadvantaged students could lead to discrimination against students from elite private schools.

The HMC was responding to plans, published on Wednesday by the higher education regulator for England, the Office for Students, that promise to halve the access gap at England’s most selective institutions in the next five years, increasing the number of disadvantaged students by 6,500 each year from 2024-25.

HMC’s executive director, Mike Buchanan, said universities should expand to accommodate as many “truly suitable students” as necessary, rather than “rob some students of a future to award it to others”. He also called on universities to review the increasing number of international students, rather than “deny places to UK students based on their class”.

Since the lifting of the student admissions cap in 2015, the number of places at many universities has grown exponentially, but undergraduate numbers have remained relatively stable at Oxford and Cambridge, though both claim to have made significant progress in diversifying their student body.

Thorin wrote:Will they include the most disadvantaged group Eddie?

Ben Reilly wrote:I think he means the white working class males, and he's right in my opinion. Just like in America, white working class males don't have access to much in the way of programs to boost their lives, possibly because they're not widely seen as a disadvantaged group (even though they largely are).

eddie wrote:Regulator’s pledge to boost university access in England ‘may discriminate based on class’

Leading private schools have challenged plans to widen access to the most selective universities in England, warning they could lead to discrimination against young people “on the basis of the class they were born into”.

The intervention by the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), which represents many of the country’s most expensive independent schools, reflects members’ concerns that new measures to improve access for the most disadvantaged students could lead to discrimination against students from elite private schools.

The HMC was responding to plans, published on Wednesday by the higher education regulator for England, the Office for Students, that promise to halve the access gap at England’s most selective institutions in the next five years, increasing the number of disadvantaged students by 6,500 each year from 2024-25.

HMC’s executive director, Mike Buchanan, said universities should expand to accommodate as many “truly suitable students” as necessary, rather than “rob some students of a future to award it to others”. He also called on universities to review the increasing number of international students, rather than “deny places to UK students based on their class”.

Since the lifting of the student admissions cap in 2015, the number of places at many universities has grown exponentially, but undergraduate numbers have remained relatively stable at Oxford and Cambridge, though both claim to have made significant progress in diversifying their student body.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/29/private-schools-criticise-plans-to-get-more-poor-students-into-university

I think this is a great idea.

Thorin wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:I think he means the white working class males, and he's right in my opinion. Just like in America, white working class males don't have access to much in the way of programs to boost their lives, possibly because they're not widely seen as a disadvantaged group (even though they largely are).

90% right. My point is when a society over compensate an erro on how they have treated some people in society. Its inevitable, another group will suffer. Just as we are seeing today with white working class childrenl

Tommy Monk wrote:

I agree with Dodge... British university places should be open for the brightest and best British students first and foremost, regardless of which school they went to... If they pass the entrance exams then they get in...

Tommy Monk wrote:Here in the UK we speak the Queens English...