All Posts Tagged With: "Oxford"

MBA programs are chock full of group work. I suppose this is to simulate the real world. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is the number of people that can’t seem to work in a group. Oxford being 95 per cent international, I fittingly have a Ukranian/American, Peruvian and South African in my current group, [...]

MBA programs are chock full of group work. I suppose this is to simulate the real world. That’s not surprising. What is surprising is the number of people that can’t seem to work in a group.

Oxford being 95 per cent international, I fittingly have a Ukranian/American, Peruvian and South African in my current group, which stays together over 8 projects and 3 months. Our experience? Peace and relative productivity. For that I am thankful. Very thankful.

Still, it astounds me when I hear about other groups with frequent decompression meetings, or groups where, after one minor assignment, certain members aren’t talking. I can’t say this happened very often to me in the real world, whether Ethiopia, the UK or Canada. Am I simply surrounding myself with good people? I’d like to think so, but maybe I’ve also been lucky.

Our admin suggested a few months ago that we plan to work for some later projects with people we select. I thought, well, it’ll be hard to tell who works well, won’t it?

Apparently not.

Study claiming ethnic, gender inequality is out-of-date, says Oxford

The Guardian recently reported on a study conducted by academics from Oxford, Manchester and London University on the admissions of students at Oxford University.

The study analyzed 1,700 UK students who applied to 11 Oxford colleges in 2002, according to the article.

The study covered details such as their predicted A-level results — a qualifying test most commonly recognized by British universities for admissions— and type of high school they attended.

The results concluded that men are twice as likely as women to be offered a place in science programs and 1.4 times as likely in arts programs.

From a gender perspective, white applicants are five times more likely than those of south Asian heritage to be offered place in science programs.

Based on the type of high school students attended the study found applicants from state schools were more likely to be offered a place in arts programs than private school applicants.

Director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford Mike Nicholson, who was quoted in the article, said that the study did not represent current admissions statistics.

Nicholson offered up more recent 2009 statistics to squash what the study appears to imply are unequal gender and ethnic admissions practices.

The article itself says, “Last year, the proportion of undergraduates at Oxford was 50.2 [per cent] females and 49.8 [per cent] male.”

I’ve recently been reading the book The Numbers Game by Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot that tries to demystify the use of statistics as the shock factor in daily news.

After the first few chapters, my fear that it’s sometimes easy to misrepresent unjustified statistics in the media was confirmed.

While I’m not faulting the Guardian of shoddy reporting, I feel it’s easy to just quote numbers without giving context to where they came from, like with this article.

To me, there are several apparent holes in the methods and findings of the study as reported.

For starters, of the 1,700 UK students used for the study, it is not discussed whether a proportional sample of male and female and those of different ethnicities were polled, or how that ratio was decided upon.

While the study likely covered these bases, it would be nice to know the breakdown of where the data is coming from in the article and what ratio of students actually applied to Oxford in 2002.

The article also elaborated on the question posed to students for the study of whether they had attended or participated in certain “cultured” events or activities in the past year and concluded that this information had no reflection in the results of their study.

Jobs and qualifications of the applicants parents were also assessed.

It seems, especially from those aspects, the study was trying to uncover the truth behind the possible stereotype that white males from “cultured” upper-class families are favoured at prestigious institutions.

According to Nicholson’s current data, that idea was not proved or disproved.

Based on that knowledge, I’m having a hard time figuring out how the statistical results of one year of admissions implies a gender and ethnic disparity at an institution, especially if current statistics reflect that male and female admissions are nearly at par and more recent ethnic admissions do not reflect the findings of the study, as Nicholson says.

If the study had, perhaps, compared data over several years of admission to imply an ongoing trend, I may be more inspired to join co-author Alison Sullivan in proclaiming the results “striking” (she is quoted as saying) in terms of inequality.

While I hope that all universities would consider applicants on the basis of academic merit, cynicism kicks in and tells me this is highly unlikely for all schools.

Regardless, I still want the proof.

Whether or not the article or the study is lacking, I think more background is needed to make a judgment call on the issue of unjust admissions.

What do you think about the article and study? Leave your comments below.

- photo by Stewf

British university seeks to build up a multi-billion dollar endowment, just like the Yanks

In an attempt to better compete with deeper-pocketed American universities, venerable Oxford University last month announced that it has hired an American as its new vice-chancellor. Andrew Hamilton, a 55-year old chemist, is currently the provost at Yale University. As provost (the second highest administrative position at the university), he oversaw Yale’s recent, and largest-ever, fundraising campaign. Andrew Hamilton will become Oxford’s vice-chancellor in October 2009. According to The Guardian, he is only the second outsider in the university’s 800 year history recruited to its highest post. (As at Canadian universities, the position of chancellor is largely ceremonial; the university is run by the vice-chancellor. The tradition explains why Canadian university presidents generally carry the title of both president and vice-chancellor.)

Oxford recently embarked on the largest fundraising campaign in European higher education, aiming to raise £1.25 (approximately $2.5-billion). Oxford’s chief fundraiser is pro-vice-chancellor Jon Dellandrea — a Canadian who last led the University of Toronto’s $1-billion fundraising campaign, the largest in Canada’s history. The U of T campaign was completed in 2004; Dellandrea moved to Oxford in 2005. Hamilton also has a Canadian connection: he completed his Master’s degree at the University of British Columbia in 1976.

Chemistry World recently ran an interview with Hamilton on its website in anticipation of his arrival at Oxford. The administrator, who did his doctoral studies at Oxford’s rival — the University of Cambridge — in the 1980s, reflected on the successful fundraising campaigns at American schools.

Hamilton said that because Yale alumni opened their wallets and administrators did a “magnificent” job handling the fundraising portfolio, the school has benefitted from an enormous increase in its endowment. Yale currently has an endowment of just under $23 billion US, second only to Harvard University in absolute terms.

Hamilton pointed to a 20-per-cent increase in Yale’s endowment every year since 2004 — and 28 per cent last year.

“One can say that the engagement of alumni in American universities is extremely well done, extremely effective,” Hamilton told the U.K.-based publication. ‘The percentage of students who make donations to the university later in life is very high.”

Yale’s endowment has also grown to record levels because of a highly successful asset management team. The Yale recent endowment’s growth has largely been the result of steady growth in the value of its existing investments, rather than new fundraising. “Yale has one of the best investment leadership teams in the world for large endowments,” Hamilton told Chemistry World. “It’s effectively stewarded and has brought back very significant annual increases as a result of that wise and careful stewardship.”

Oxford carries an endowment of approximately $6.7 billion. Hamilton wouldn’t speculate about Oxford’s ability to raise money though he did say that, “I think the loyalty of Oxford alumni is as deep as that of Yale alumni.”