Cambridge encourages ethnic minorities

By Shola Adenekan

Cambridge can seem intimidating to ethnic minority students

For an arriving student, Cambridge University is a daunting physical presence.

With vast acres sprawled across the city, 31 colleges, almost 16,000 students and world-class faculties, the place echoes the intellectual reputation.

So, it is comforting to walk around with someone who knows the landscape.

Fran Kerridge, 22, enjoyed her three-year stint as a Cambridge student so much that she has invited scores of teenagers from across the country to share her experience at a summer school.

Summer school

Ms Kerridge, who comes from a working-class east London family, graduated last year with a degree in theology and religious studies.

She is now the co-ordinator for Geema - the Group to Encourage Ethnic Minority Applications to the University of Cambridge.

Geema was formed in 1989 by the black and Asian caucus at the university.

This year's summer school is a key part of its programme, organised to attract more applications from bright students who come from backgrounds with little experience of higher education.

There is no sense in making ethnic minorities fit into the Cambridge University lifestyle. The university must try to fit into the lives of these youths Professor John Brennan, Open University

This is pertinent at a time when ministers are decrying elitism in higher education and urging leading universities to increase the range of their intake.

During the week-long exercise the teenagers attend lectures, seminars, go punting on the River Cam and interact with current ethnic-minority students.

Ms Kerridge says most of the teenagers arrive with the usual fears and misconceptions about Cambridge.

"Within the week, we cannot only allay these, but turn them into ambassadors for Cambridge in their own school.

"More importantly, many of these students go on to apply to Cambridge, something they would not even have considered before they came on the summer school."

The current population of black and Asian students at the university is 13%.

But, while the summer school's organisers say 20 of last year participants applied to the university, there is no official figure for the number who succeeded.

'Not just for rich people'

However, the charm offensive seems to be working.

Chirag Patel, 16, from St Joseph's College, Croydon says the experience has changed his notion about Cambridge University.

"Before I came to Cambridge I did not think there would be many ethnic minorities. I use to think it was for rich white people. But within a week people changed their minds."

Chirag plans to apply to study physiology at Cambridge after his A-levels and says he is going to tell others about his experience.

Joseph Temitope Bamidele, also 16, from London, is another impressed visitor. A trip to the university's observatory made him decide to apply to study quantum mechanics.

He said: "We've been attending loads of lectures. We had one on medicine, one on genetics, another on theology, and we have been practising punting on the river."

Changing attitudes

Professor John Brennan, the director of the Open University's Centre for Higher Education Research and Information and an expert on minorities education, says Cambridge University faces huge difficulties in attracting ethnic minorities.

This is because they may perceive the university's expectations as alien to the rest of their lives.

"There is no sense in making ethnic minorities fit into the Cambridge University lifestyle," he said.

"The university must try to fit into the lives of these youths."

However, Joseph thinks young black boys like himself are not applying to Cambridge because of peer pressure.

"When they think of Cambridge, they think you have to be very smart," he said.

"They think they will be made fun of by their friends. I think black boys themselves have to change their own attitude."