When I was a student helper on an Oxford access programme, I watched one of the outreach representatives employed by the university give a presentation to a group of inner-London, mostly black, teenage boys. She began with some cheerful “myth-busting”, starting with the old classic: “Everyone at Oxford is posh.”
“This is one of the most commonly believed myths about Oxford!” she beamed to her dubious audience. “But our students really aren’t. Look at these people over here!” She gestured towards us students. “Don’t they just look like normal people?”
We were all white. Two of the four students in attendance had been to private school. I resisted the urge to facepalm. How could an access officer be so out of whack with her definition of “normal”? She clearly just meant that we weren’t, at the present moment, wearing white tie.
The dearth of black, Asian and minority ethnic and non-posh students at Oxbridge has, rightfully, created a national moral panic. However, the issue of inequality in higher education should not merely be addressed through access programmes that focus on “success” for a few individuals.
A ‘second-class’ university experience
I will not be satisfied with “equal” representation at Oxford.
Most of those advocating for equality of access to Oxbridge are avid proponents of comprehensive education to 18. Why should this principle not extend to higher education? Why are resources not more equitably distributed across the country? Why must the world-class libraries, top academics and vast wealth be concentrated in two smallish towns in the south of England?
Wherever you study and whatever your subject, your degree will cost the same. We should not be content to watch some students get much more bang for their borrowed buck. We should not be placated if Oxford lets in a few more BAME students. For every extra kid from a working-class family who makes it to the dreaming spires, there are thousands who must make do with a second-class university experience elsewhere.
When I was at Oxford, we were not allowed to have a part-time job during term time - rich colleges would subsidise food and rent. Cleaners would visit our bedrooms daily to empty our bins. Some colleges provided laundry services. Studying was paramount, and we were not to be distracted by such inconveniences as hoovering.
In contrast, students at the University of Central Lancashire or Manchester Metropolitan University, for example, may well work 30-hour weeks in Topshop or bartending alongside studying. Their experience of a supposedly full-time degree is vastly different to that of an Oxbridge student.
The status of Oxbridge as the cherry on the cake of British higher education reinforces the social and economic dominance of the south of England. The unease that bright working-class teenagers might feel at moving from their home community to attend a “top” university is exacerbated by the physical distance required to relocate - not to mention the cost.
Regional superiority
Students are required to adapt to the institutions, rather than the institutions adapting to them. As a teacher in the North of England, it irks me that bright, working-class young people who might want to stay in their local area for university will not have access to the incredible resources that I enjoyed. Why is the thought of library devolution - to Hull, say - so unthinkably radical?
Residential universities - a middle-class rite of passage, and a corollary of the elite boarding school tradition - are a British peculiarity. In Germany, students tend to study at institutions close to home, which goes some way to mitigating the problem of regional superiority.
Focusing on Oxbridge to fix social mobility issues perpetuates the elitism that the universities represent. Oxford students should not get to feel OK about their privilege by having a few more BAME coursemates. We should challenge these universities’ economic and intellectual dominance, and insist on a fairer distribution of resources across the UK. Bring on the Bolton Bodleian.
Rebecca Alper is a teacher and former Oxford student
