David Cameron criticised Oxford University and other British institutions in a column penned for The Sunday Times today, highlighting institutional bias against black and minority ethnic (BME) communities in Britain.
Cameron writes, “if you’re a young black man, you’re more likely to be in a prison cell than studying at a top university.”
The piece singles out Cameron’s own alma mater, saying, “It’s striking that in 2014, our top university, Oxford, accepted just 27 black men and women out of an intake of more than 2,500. I know the reasons are complex, including poor schooling, but I worry that the university I was so proud to attend is not doing enough to attract talent from across our country.”
The Sunday Times proffers Oxford’s defense, writing that an “Oxford spokesman drew attention to different figures, saying that in 2015 the university accepted 367 ethnic minority UK students, in line with other leading universities.”
Cameron does say that Britain has come a long way, for instance in the House of Commons, writing, “When I became an MP in 2001, I barely had a single colleague from an ethnic minority background. Today our MPs include the sons, daughters and grandchildren of Ghanaians, east African Indians, Iranian dissidents, Pakistanis and Indians.”
But his overarching concern is to highlight his “2020 agenda” concerning BME communities. He says he is determined to achieve, “Not just greater numbers at university, but many more jobs, apprenticeships and start-up loans. And I am determined to fix that stubborn problem of underrepresentation in our police and armed forces.”
