Behind the Headlines

Admission to Oxford: merit matters, not money

Plenty of heat but rather less light has been generated in the latest political and media storm over who goes to university and how they get in.

It all kicked off in the morning papers with a Guardian front-page story which included the suggestion that the rich might get extra university places by paying a lot more for them.

Morning interviews with the Universities Minister, David Willetts, didn’t do much to clarify what was really being discussed - and so the storm gathered strength.

No-one here had seen any such proposals. Predictably though, Oxford and Cambridge were cited repeatedly as examples of the kind of universities to which this new idea might apply, or appeal. Cue pictures of gown-clad students on well-mown lawns, and online commentators raging about the thick-but-rich swamping Oxbridge.

By the afternoon both Mr Willetts and the Prime Minister were insisting that there were not, nor had there ever been, such proposals.

In fact, Oxford wasn’t very relevant to the discussion in the first place because, as we have made clear repeatedly, Oxford’s commitment to admissions based purely on merit is unwavering. As the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, Dr Sally Mapstone, said in a discussion in Congregation the same afternoon: “I would put down the marker now that the idea of ‘extra places’ does not fit readily with the way Oxford does admissions … This proposal would run quite counter to the principal of admission on the defining criterion of academic merit, which is at the heart of our admissions policy.”

In any case, a significant expansion of undergraduate places (however funded) is not a real prospect for Oxford. The foundations of an Oxford education are the collegiate and tutorial systems. Most students live in college accommodation for at least two years of their course, often more. The size of colleges, and the resource-intensive nature of the teaching, naturally limit student numbers.

There’s no doubt that big government cuts to teaching and to other higher education funding (which have been deplored by the University), coupled with the new tuition charge regime from 2012, are posing major challenges for the sector as a whole.

Oxford is not exempt, but we are putting students first. Oxford's support package will be among the best, if not the best, in England. With a combination of both fee waivers and bursaries for living costs, Oxford will spend over £12m a year.

Under the proposed new arrangements, Oxford will still be subsidising the education of every UK undergraduate by several thousand pounds per student per year. So it’s clear that significant new income and investment will be needed in order to honour the University’s commitment to offering the best possible education to the widest range of the most talented students. The funding gap has to be progressively closed.

But some things won’t change. One of those is that Oxford is interested in a student's mind, not their bank account.