Leading universities in the UK are preparing to lower exam standards in a major DEI initiative to help ethnic minority and poorer students improve their outcomes.
Oxford and Cambridge Universities are preparing to introduce “comprehensive assessments” such as open-book exams and take-home essays, rather than proctored face-to-face exams, in the hope of eliminating disparities between student groups. It's one of the. telegraph paper reported.
In its annual report, the Access and Participation Plan (APP), which sets out how the university seeks to improve the lives of its many disadvantaged student groups, the University of Cambridge has revealed that traditional “assessment practices” He said that this may be the cause of the disparity in grades.
The University of Cambridge said it aims to “improve outcomes”, particularly for black and Bangladeshi students. The university also cited research from its own academics that found traditional testing was a “threat to self-esteem” for students.
Meanwhile, Oxford University's APP said it would aim to “use a more diverse and inclusive range of assessments” to “increase the likelihood” that students from “lower socio-economic backgrounds” will achieve better results. It has been reported.
The Office for Students (OFS), which regulates higher education in the UK, supports the plan, and other elite Russell Group schools are reportedly considering following the example of Oxford and Cambridge.
According to OFS, there is a 22 percentage point gap between white and black students in obtaining top two degrees, and an 11 percentage point gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged students.
A spokesperson for the Office of Student Affairs said different approaches could be used to improve grades for some groups, as long as the courses are “academically robust, reliable and ensure that they reflect student effort”. defended the idea of trying.
“Where there is evidence that the current assessment model may not be fair, it is appropriate for universities to pilot and evaluate changes to the way they mark students,” he added.
However, the move has attracted criticism, including former education secretary Sir John Hayes, who said relaxing testing requirements for certain groups meant that “students from minority backgrounds “It deeply insults the organization” and “undermines the integrity of the evaluation.” process. “
Referring to President Donald Trump's recent efforts to remove DEI from the U.S. government, former Prime Minister Liz Truss said: made a joke: “Would you please enact an executive order banning this anti-meritocracy nonsense?”
In October, Professor John Malembon of the University of Cambridge said that woke ideologues are actively attacking the idea of ”the pursuit of excellence and truth” through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. he warned. “The attack has been violent and now threatens to destroy the university and turn it into a shell of advanced training without knowledge,” Marenbon said.
