A Cambridge college has ignited a fierce debate on elitism after approving a controversial policy to specifically target students from elite private schools for recruitment, a move critics say undermines decades of progress on widening participation.
Policy Details and 'Reverse Discrimination' Claim
Fellows at Trinity Hall college last month formally backed a plan to use a "targeted recruitment strategy" to approach around 50 independent schools. The aim is to encourage applications for subjects including languages, music, and classics. The list includes prestigious institutions such as St Paul’s Girls’ School, Eton College, and Winchester College, most of which are in southern England and charge annual fees exceeding £25,000.
In a memo seen by the Guardian, Marcus Tomalin, Trinity Hall’s director of admissions, justified the policy. He argued that the best students from such schools arrive at Cambridge with expertise that aligns with the intellectual demands of certain subjects. Tomalin warned that to ignore this pool would risk "overlooking potential offer holders" and could lead to "reverse discrimination." He added that a significant minority at leading independents are on full bursaries, though recent research suggests such schools spend only a fraction of their income on means-tested financial aid.
Internal and External Backlash
The decision has provoked significant internal dissent and external condemnation. Staff within the college told the Guardian that a "significant number" of fellows were upset but felt powerless to stop the policy when it was presented to the governing body.
One academic described it as "a deeply alarming policy" that risked returning Trinity Hall to a "boys’ club culture of the past." Another called it a "slap in the face" for state-educated undergraduates and for staff who have long worked to improve outreach to UK state schools.
Professor Lee Elliot Major, an expert in social mobility at the University of Exeter, strongly criticised the implication that widening participation students are academically inferior. "The evidence is clear," he said, "when talented students who have faced greater barriers gain access to elite universities, they flourish precisely because opportunity, not ability, was the binding constraint." He warned against mistaking "polished performance, so often shaped by privilege, for greater raw talent."
Cambridge's Broader Admissions Context
The move comes against a backdrop of sustained efforts by Oxford and Cambridge to diversify their intake beyond a narrow pool of elite fee-paying and grammar schools. By 2022, nearly 73% of UK students admitted to Cambridge were state-educated, though this proportion has since dipped slightly to 71%. Notably, only about 7% of UK-educated students attend private schools.
In 2024, Cambridge removed specific targets for state school admissions following a policy shift by the Office for Students, England's higher education regulator. Trinity Hall's own proportion of privately educated students was 32% in 2022, falling to 26% in its most recent data.
A spokesperson for Trinity Hall defended the initiative, stating the college remains committed to admitting the "best and brightest students regardless of background." They cited existing access schemes and said the new policy was aimed at "targeted subjects to encourage students with high academic potential to apply to Cambridge," from all school types in line with the university's access plan.
Founded in 1350, Trinity Hall is one of Cambridge's oldest colleges, with alumni including physicist Stephen Hawking, writer J.B. Priestley, and Soviet double agent Donald Maclean.
