Our Top Universities Shouldn't Introduce Social Engineering to Aid the Disadvantaged ; `There Are Aspects of the Entry Procedures That Seem Contrary to Natural Justice'

Beginning of article

RECENT REVELATIONS in The Independent showing how a Cambridge college gives preference to candidates who come from poor schools raise serious issues. The issues are not personal. I cannot knowingly point to any candidate from this school (Manchester Grammar) to Cambridge or to Oxford who has been discriminated against on the basis of his being a pupil here. We have no serious quarrel with this or any other year's entry round. We have no axe to grind.

Yet three aspects of the entry procedures detailed in the article seem contrary to natural justice - the lack of transparency to candidates regarding entry criteria; the lack of transparency to schools, and the lack of any …