Britain tests 'name blind' university applications to tackle discrimination

September 12, 2016
  • Industry News
  • Discrimination

Britain’s higher education system is considered among the world's best.

At least if you have the right skin color, critics say.

British universities have frequently been perceived as elitist — and sometimes as unjust. Pupils from state schools still are less likely to be accepted at better-ranked universities than their peers who graduated from private schools. Whereas 23 percent of all black college applicants in Britain receive offers from top universities, 55 percent of white applicants are successful, numbers released last year showed.

Four British universities — located in Exeter, Huddersfield, Liverpool and Winchester — have launched an experiment to try out “name blind” applications in an effort to tackle ethnic, religious or gender discrimination. It is the first such effort at British higher education institutions although similar procedures are already in place at multiple private and public enterprises.

Read more at The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/11/britain-tests-name-blind-university-applications-to-tackle-discrimination/