Cambridge University wants to shed its elitist image. It thinks soap operas can help.
The university said on Tuesday it had written to producers of Britain’s three leading soaps, EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale about including Cambridge in their story lines — a change from typical plots that revolve around Britain’s pub culture, working class woes and messy sexual escapades.
Spokesman Greg Hayman said approaching the shows — one is set in a gritty London neighborhood, another in a downtrodden Manchester community and the third in a rural village — was part of a bid to correct the perception that Cambridge was “not for young people from ordinary backgrounds.”
“We’ve very keen to attract the brightest and best students regardless of their background,” Hayman said.
“One of the better ways of communicating directly with potential students is to talk to them through the soaps and other programs they watch,” he said.
Like all British universities, Cambridge and its rival Oxford are government-funded, and they are under pressure to become more inclusive.
Many in Britain’s poorer communities view attending Oxford or Cambridge as an impossible dream — an elitist image that is persistent but unfair, according to university officials.
University administrators point out that Oxford and Cambridge are not more expensive than less esteemed universities, because tuition fees are capped by law at about £3,000 (US$5,350) per year.
Hayman said the university’s approaches had not yet resulted in any firm commitments from TV producers, although several had responded and one crew was planning an exploratory visit to Cambridge.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was