Following on from yesterday’s post, this one is of particular interest – as Oxford/Cambridge always have had higher numbers from the private sector:
Principal at an Oxford college might not seem a natural job for a Glaswegian from a working-class background who has spent much of her life waging war on social injustice and educational disadvantage.
But Mansfield College – known as the dissenters’ college – is not like its University of Oxford counterparts and for its new head, barrister and Labour peer Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, it was a fitting home.
Established in the 19th century as the first college for religious Nonconformists, Mansfield is now blazing a trail for fair access – it offered 84.5 per cent of its places to students from the state sector this year. More than two-thirds of these came from further education, sixth-form colleges or comprehensive schools.
“People’s jaws drop when they hear that,” Baroness Kennedy said. “If I’ve got 84 per cent, someone sitting here in Oxford has got a very bad story to tell.”
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