Cambridge ‘not to blame’ for lack of black students
A Cambridge society representing minorities says highlighting low numbers puts others off
BRITAIN’S top universities should not be “attacked” for admitting low numbers of ethnic minority students, as it should be up to black youngsters to leave behind their inhibitions about applying, Cambridge University’s Afro-Caribbean Society has said.
Members of the society, who posed for a photograph outside St John’s College, have told how higher education institutions need to overcome negative messages and focus instead on empowerment.
Daniel Oluboyede, 19, a first year medicine student and member of the society, told The Daily Telegraph: “It is always encouraging to be positive on the matter instead of just looking at the negatives. Loads of people love to talk about quotas and [the numbers of ] ethnic minority students. Negative messaging is less powerful.”
Mr Oluboyede, from Wandsworth in south-west London, added: “What they should be [talking about] are the success stories because that is really what is going to help people know that they can do it.”
Donte Nembhard, a 19-year-old from Birmingham studying chemical engineering, said: “The main message I want to send to young black boys who want to go to Cambridge is to not be discouraged by the low admission rate.”
He told BuzzFeed News: “The rate will not increase if the number of applications remains the same.”
The picture, which has gone viral since it was posted on social media by the society earlier this week, was taken outside St John’s College, whose alumni include the poet William Wordsworth, as well as nine Nobel Prize winners, seven prime ministers and 12 archbishops.
A spokesman for the society said that after finding that just 15 black male undergraduates were accepted into the university of Cambridge in 2015, they wanted to depict some of the men behind this statistic.
“Although not all of the men are from the 2015 admission cycle they are intended to serve as a microcosm for the population of black males in the university,” they said.
“The real purpose of the photograph was to remind young black individuals that Cambridge is for us. In order to encourage more applicants we recognise that representation and visibility is vital.”
In 2015, 23 black female students were accepted by Cambridge.
A university spokesman said: “We welcome this positive, student-led campaign to raise aspirations and encourage applications to Cambridge. We maintain high academic standards but we are also committed to widening participation.”
The university spends £5 million a year on access measures, including projects focused on BME students.