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Blunkett to urge Oxbridge to widen participation

Posted on 21st July 2008

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Former education secretary David Blunkett is due to broach the subject of private school admissions to Oxbridge in an interview to be published this week.

Speaking to the Fabian Society Magazine, he will argue that "a certain type of approach" used in interviews for Oxford and Cambridge applicants is designed to favour those taught in independent schools.

He will suggest that the selection process entrenches a private school bias at the elite universities, reports the Independent.

And Mr Blunkett will accuse Oxbridge of making "the right noises" about widening participation, but failing to act adequately on this.

Speaking about efforts to make the universities' intake more diverse, he will say "there's great resistance to bringing Oxford, in particular, into the 21st century and the lip-service paid at Cambridge hasn't yielded as much fruit as anyone would have liked".

Figures recently indicated that while other universities have managed to widen their participation, Oxbridge's independent schools intake has grown.
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