It Doesn’t Add Up
‘JEFFREY Archer would also doubtless like to pass a few words on the news from his other alma mater, Oxford University.
 |
| Now known to hopefuls as the dream-on spires |
The place the Archer-inspired novelist Matthew Arnold described as the ”home of lost causes” is under attack for its decision not to offer a place to Anastasia Fedotova, a profoundly deaf student who scored six A grade passes in her A-levels.
In the Independent, the Russian-born swot shows off her results, which were still not good enough to win her a place to study mathematics at Brasenose College, a decision defended by a college spokesperson.
”Our vigorous admissions process enables us to consider each application on its individual merits,” says the spokesman in the Times.
But that hasn’t prevented Anastasia’s MP, Tony Lloyd, MP for Manchester Central, from calling on the university to justify its selection methods ”both in the hope that Anastasia can still be offered a place but also so that in future young people get though a selection process which is at the moment clearly failing”.
As the Indy reminds us, the case has echoes of Tyneside comprehensive girl Laura Spence, who was rejected from Oxford University in 2000, a case that pricked Chancellor Gordon Brown to condemn the institution.
And the case of one J. Archer, who did get into Brasenose College, where he signed up for a teacher training certificate and was above average at running.
‘
Posted: 20th, August 2002 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
