Oxford University should go private, as it is nothing but a “finishing school for the privileged,” a leading academic has declared.
Brian Roper, vice-chancellor of the London Metropolitan University, told The Times Higher Education Supplement that government funding would be better spent on universities such as his own.
“My response to that is to say ‘you want to be free? Get free. Don’t take any state funding, just go.’ That means no teaching grant, no QR (quality research) grant – that should be kept for the state universities,” he said.
“The money could be better used in places which transform people’s lives rather than serving as rather superior finishing schools, which is what these other places are about.”
“If you don’t like the deal, don’t take the money”
He said, “You take the money, you deliver the objectives. If you don’t like the deal, don’t take the money.”
Roper’s comments came after Chris Patten, Chancellor of Oxford University, called for a complete removal of the cap on tuition fees,
This follows John Denham, the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, has criticised the University for not doing enough to widen access.
The warden of New College, Alan Ryan wrote that “Denham was, when he was at the Home Office, a decent, intelligent, humane and well-informed minister.”
“Ever since he got to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, however, he’s been a changed man and now talks ill-informed nonsense and picks needless fights.”
Denham has responded to the criticism, saying, “I spent a year in this job making no institutional criticism of either Oxford or Cambridge universities… the recent furore has really underlined how the media debate lags behind reality.”
Media focus unhelpful
A spokesperson for the University said, “Oxford University works hard to ensure it attracts the best students regardless of background.
“The media focus on admissions to Oxford can be unhelpful, particularly when it perpetuates out of date and often incorrect ideas about the admissions process.”
The Vice-Chancellor, John Hood, was unavailable for comment. He has consistently refused to be drawn in to the privatisation debate.
Mike Nicholson, Oxford’s Director of Admissions, earlier argued that there was only a “finite pool” of students from state backgrounds with the ability to flourish at Oxford. Nicholson said that, of the 28,000 students achieving three A’s at A Level, 11,000 already applied to Oxford, and a similar number to Cambridge.
Critics of the University have attacked the comments by Patten and Nicholson as evidence of Oxford’s reluctance to widen access to the institutions, an accusation the University strongly denies. The latest admissions statistics for Oxford show that a mere 53.5% of students come from state schools, compared to their 93% representation in the school-aged population as a whole.
