Episode 276: Oxbridge [2]
and who perhaps have not grown up in an environment where going to university is the norm,
access to Oxbridge is incredibly hard, and Oxford and Cambridge have been accused of not making
much of an effort to encourage gifted students from disadvantaged households to apply there.
Thankfully, this has started to change.
They are now spending considerable amounts of money on outreach programmes, trying to ensure
that potential applicants in schools which have rarely sent any one of their pupils to Oxbridge,
the brightest amongst these groups are persuaded that Oxford or Cambridge could be for them.
In this respect, the intervention of the British rapper, Stormzy, in 2018 has been significant.
He joined forces with other, less glamorous, sponsors to support black and mixed race students
through Cambridge, awarding up to 10 scholarships of £20,000 per year to the successful students.
This so-called "Stormzy effect" means that Cambridge has now
significantly increased the number of black and mixed race students.
Estimates at both Oxford and Cambridge show that the numbers of what's called BAME
undergraduates - BAME stands for Black, Asian and Mixed Race - the number of BAME
students is almost one third, while this segment is only 13% of the total UK population.
So things are certainly getting better, and although access
might not be equal, it is more equal than ever before.
Now, it is worth noting that, compared to many universities in the United States, for
example, access to Oxford and Cambridge is incredibly meritocratic, the universities are
much better at offering places based on intelligence and potential rather than anything else.
You may remember the “Varsity Blues” scandal from 2019, where parents of wealthy
students were found to have paid bribes to secure access to elite American universities.
You may know that Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, was accepted to Harvard
University despite having very average grades, and there being question marks about
whether his father's $2.5 million donation to the university had anything to do with it.
You may also know that for many American universities, students
with a family connection are more likely to be given a place.
At Harvard, for example, 33% of applicants with a family
connection are offered a place while the overall rate is just 6%.
Fortunately this is not the case for Oxbridge - it doesn't matter
whether your parents both went there and donated millions of pounds to
the university, it shouldn't affect your chances of getting a place.
Now, let us finish this exploration of Oxbridge with some curiosities, some little
interesting facts that you may not know about these two prestigious universities,
because they are steeped in history and have some amazing stories to tell.
Firstly, and this is also a practical point, did you know that you can
actually visit these colleges, you can wander around them and imagine
yourself strolling through the courtyard like Sir Isaac Newton or Oscar Wilde?
You can, and if you visit the UK I would definitely recommend you do this.
Secondly, if you haven't ever visited Oxford or Cambridge or been
inside a college, you will probably have seen it in film or TV.
The colleges are beautiful, and are often used as sets for films and TV series.
Harry Potter is the most famous one, which used the majestic dining
hall at Christ Church College Oxford for the great hall at Hogwarts.
Thirdly, Oxford University is home to one of the oldest
libraries in Europe, and the second largest library in the UK.
It's called “The Bodleian”, or simply “The Bod”, and has over 13 million individual books.
Fourth, our penultimate fact is that the head of Oliver Cromwell, the man who ruled England for
a brief period in the 17th century, is still rumoured to be hidden in a college in Cambridge.
And our final fact relates to an unusual tradition at Oxford University, and that is that several
colleges keep pet tortoises, and every year there is a tortoise fair where these animals race,
chasing, I guess I probably shouldn't use the word “chasing”, but at least following a lettuce leaf.
So, there you go, a brief look at the unusual and unique institutions
of Oxford and Cambridge University, otherwise known as Oxbridge.
The final thing to underline is that if you visit the UK I
would highly recommend a trip to either Oxford or Cambridge.
They are both a very easy train or bus ride away from London,
and you will find yourself with no shortage of things to do.
Whether it's going for a ride on the gondola-like boats called punts and imagining that you are
Lewis Carrol writing Alice and Wonderland or strolling through a courtyard at a famous college
and imagining that you're Lord Byron, there are few places in the country, few places in the world
perhaps, that have produced so many people that have had such an impact on the world we live in.
OK then, that is it for today's episode on Oxbridge.
I hope it's been an interesting one, that it's given you some perspective
on how these universities work and why they are so important, and that
perhaps it has inspired you to pay them a visit if you come to the UK.
As always, I would love to know what you thought of this episode.
Have you been to Oxford or Cambridge?
What did you think of them?
Are there similar institutions in your country that have a similar impact on public life?
I would love to know.
You can head right into our community forum, which is at
community.leonardoenglish.com and get chatting away to other curious minds.
You've been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.
I'm Alastair Budge, you stay safe, and I'll catch you in the next episode.
