13th June 2018 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Cambridge University has admitted it needs help to increase the number of black students enrolling as undergraduates. In a report on the BBC, this follows the findings that, of the 29 undergraduate colleges, six accepted fewer than 10 black students between 2012 and 2016, and one, St Edmund’s College, accepted no black students over that period, despite receiving 30 applications.
Cambridge said that help is needed from schools and parents to encourage more black students to apply, and that it cannot improve diversity without help. The university has committed to increase funding to improve diversity by giving more money to schemes like Target Oxbridge, who offer one-to-one tuition to help black students increase their chances of a successful application.
Labour MP David Lammy has asked every university to publish acceptance rates for ethnic minorities following this, and Oxford University’s similar acceptance rate. Mr Lammy said that a white student is twice as likely to be accepted into Oxbridge as a black student, and the universities need to explain why.
David Lammy claims that the problem is self-perpetuating. He said a black student living on the 20th floor of a tower block can have straight As at A Level, but has a difficult interview and isn’t accepted. This then means that, in later years, black students in the same position will be worried about applying.