David Cameron in race row with Oxford University
April 12th, 2011 - 2:23 pm ICT by ANI
London, Apr 12 (ANI): British Prime Minister David Cameron was embroiled in a race rowwithOxfordUniversityon Monday after claiming that the institution admitted only one black student in 2009.
He was accused of getting his facts wrong after he blasted the “disgraceful” record, reports the Sun.
Angry academics said a total of 27 black British students started at the university that year.
They said Cameron had got mixed up with figures showing just one had a black Caribbean background.
But Downing Street last night said he was right to raise the issue.
Sources said 27 black Brits was still a tiny fraction of the 3,200 students who started at Oxford in 2009.
The PM, himself an Oxford graduate, spoke out on a visit to Harrogate, North Yorks.
But a university spokesman said: “The figure quoted is incorrect. Oxford is fully committed to admitting the most able students regardless of background.”
A spokeswoman for the PM said he had used figures uncovered by ex-Labour minister David Lammy.
She said: “The wider point was that it is not acceptable for universities like Oxford to have so few students from black and minority ethnic groups.” (ANI)
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