In late 2018, I saw what authentic Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in our elite academic institutions looks like. For the previous 10 years, Glasgow University had been developing a carefully-constructed programme to provide opportunities for children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to access their world-class medical degree course.

This was rooted in an acknowledgment that academically bright young people from poorer communities and some ethnic groupings must overcome greater life challenges than candidates from more affluent backgrounds. The university was now in a position to reveal that almost 20% of the Scottish students entering its school of medicine in 2018 were from MD20 postcodes, 19 of them having participated in its Glasgow Access Programme (GAP). These numbers were unprecedented among the elite Russell Group of universities and across the UK’s 34 medical schools.

Two of the senior academics who had helped pilot this project, Professor John Paul Leach, the consultant neurologist who was head of undergraduate medicine at Glasgow and Dr Neil Croll, the university’s head of widening participation, were delighted at its success. Professor Leach said he’d have been happy if even half of the 20 GAP students had attained the required level to embark on a medical degree. “They were all still expected to meet the very stringent academic standards required to study medicine at Glasgow.” Dr Croll rejected the view that widening access programmes penalise hard-working children from more affluent backgrounds. “There are many historical and deeply-rooted barriers blocking the way to university for bright pupils from disadvantaged communities. It’s a tragic waste of talent that hurts the country.”

Jason Arday case shows the persecution of minorities........

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