Brown Invited to Oxford
IN ORDER TO REDRESS negative government perceptions of access issues at Oxford University, Sonia Sodha, VP (Access and Academic Affairs), has invited Chancellor Gordon Brown to attend the first Target Schools Open Day of 2003 in St. John's College on 17 March.
Brown recently suggested that universities such as Oxford should only be allowed to charge top-up fees after they had been independently assessed to ensure that they are providing greater access to higher education. It is feared that such comments will give the impression that Oxford is failing to address access issues.
Sodha stated that the work of the Admissions Office, colleges and the two student-led initiatives to widen access show that this view is "clearly untrue". She believes that the government have done the University's reputation a great deal of damage because "there isn't a lot of recognition in the government about what we actually do to improve access"
23rd Jan 2003