Access is not about taking people who are already superstars’? Exploring constructions of merit and fairness in the University of Oxford’s undergraduate admissions routes

This paper explores how the normative values which govern the mainstream undergraduate admissions process at Oxford are impacted by the introduction of the Astrophoria Foundation Year (AFY). The AFY offers a route for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to access undergraduate study at Oxford with lower grades than normally required, challenging some internal narratives concerning merit and fairness. The project explores how the meaning of the AFY is constructed by admissions stakeholders and how this inflects their actions towards it: how narratives of permeation or compartmentalisation are deployed, how actors various support, oppose, accommodate and co-opt the AFY, and the impacts these actions have on both the AFY and the mainstream admissions process itself.

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