"News in Brief"

Apparently the Oxford Student thinks that the news of HEFCE reducing Oxford's funding by 37% is only worth a small paragraph. This penalty was inflicted because the University only increased its state school admissions by under 1% last year.

But whose failures are being punished here? Is there any evidence of systematic bias against state school pupils? Of course not. What is clear is that teachers in the state system fail to encourage applications to Oxbridge, and when the pupils do apply, they are not as well prepared for the admissions process. But this is hardly the University's fault.

Perhaps Oxford (and Cambridge, hit by a 39% cut for the same reasons) should sue the government for failing to provide a decent education to a vast swathe of A-level students. Because the blame rests more with them than with us.