Vice-chancellor Deborah Prentice wants to encourage students from the North West to apply to Cambridge, admitting that “admissions to Cambridge […] is skewed towards London and the South East.”

The vice-chancellor wrote in Manchester Evening News’ Northern Agenda newsletter yesterday (23/02) in response to an article published in the Liverpool Echo last month by Eva Carroll, a 2021 English Literature graduate from King’s College, about her experiences at Cambridge as a student from the North West.

Prentice compared her early experiences to those of Carroll: “We both grew up with single parents and were the first in our families to go to university. I’ve been vice-chancellor at Cambridge for just over seven months now. On arriving here, like Eva, I noticed many of the traditions and have quickly grown used to them.”

The vice-chancellor visited Liverpool with Fitzwilliam College Master, Baroness Sally Morgan, to increase connectivity with the North West. They spoke to students and staff at St Michael’s Church of England School in Crosby, as well as meeting with trustees from Aspire Liverpool.

Citing 2022 Admissions statistics, the vice-chancellor acknowledged that 47.7% of the applications to Cambridge came from the South East and Greater London, whereas only 7.7% of applications came from the North West.

She noted the University’s “real progress in recent years in welcoming a more diverse group of students.” She continued: “I want the university to serve the UK as a whole. We know that there are many students in the North West, and beyond, who – for whatever reason – will get the grades but will not think of applying to Cambridge.”

Prentice hopes that “encouraging more people from all backgrounds to apply to Cambridge from great places such as Liverpool, and right across the North West, can be one of my legacies.”