News: Oxbridge offers for Rotherham students

Six students at Thomas Rotherham College have received offers of places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities conditional on their A level results.



Scott Daley has been offered a place to read Mathematics at Balliol College, Oxford, Zhenqiang Lin, Engineering at Churchill College, Cambridge, Hannah Dickinson, Geography at St Edmund Hall, Oxford , Jackey Chong, Mathematics at Churchill College, Cambridge, Abigail Thomas, English and French at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and Jack Stewart, Law at Queens' College, Cambridge.

TRC Principal Dr Richard Williams said: "At a time when competition for places at Oxford and Cambridge was tougher than ever, the students had done remarkably well in coming through a series of written tests and interviews and scrutiny of their examination performance to date."

In December, local MP John Healey wrote to the vice-chancellors of both institutions to request a meeting to see what more the universities could do to ensure more offers were made to students from South Yorkshire.

A Freedom of Information request revealed that in the four years between 2006 and 2009, only 27 offers had been made to Rotherham students from Cambridge University and only 13 from Oxford.

Mr Healey, the MP for Wentworth and Dearne, said: "Over the last decade the number of young people from our area going to university has rocketed - when it comes to the best universities there is still a barrier to break through.

"Trebling tuition fees is going to make it much harder for many students to have and achieve their dream of going to university and even harder for them to get to the very best universities because they will almost certainly charge the full fee possible.

"I don't want any talented young person to be put off going to university in the future. I don't want anyone to have to choose a course based on what they can afford rather than what is right for them."

Thomas Rotherham College website

Images: brchamber.co.uk