Oxbridge must help pupils from state schools succeed, college head says | University of Oxford

Oxbridge colleges need to actively help their state school-educated pupils succeed, rather than hope a “magical sorting hat” will uncover their talent, according to the head of an Oxford college who is looking to raise £100m to do just that.

Helen Mountfield, the principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, said her college was able to recruit 93% of its undergraduates from UK state schools and see them flourish because of the extra effort it put in.

She said: “We pride ourselves on taking in people on what we see is their intellectual aptitude. Sometimes they haven’t had the maths…