Brasenose reprieve over deaf student

Brasenose College, of Oxford University, has escaped detailed
scrutiny of its decision to reject a deaf student by just three
weeks, according to the Disability Rights Commission.

The student, Anastasia Fedotova, gained six A grades in her
A-levels, but failed to gain a place at Brasenose. She has since
been offered a place to study mathematics at Imperial College,
London.

Bob Niven, chief executive of the Disability Rights Commission,
said the university should examine whether its admissions or
interview processes had hindered Fedotova’s application.

He warned that, from next month, the DRC would be able to take
cases on behalf of such students to examine whether discrimination
had taken place.

“New laws from 1 September will ensure that disabled students and
pupils are not discriminated against in the admissions process and
that any interview situations take account of someone’s disability
and ensure that a disabled candidate has a fair interview, just as
a non-disabled candidate would,” he said.

Oxford University said that candidates who declared that they had
special requirements were given adequate provision to ensure they
could demonstrate their full potential during the selection
process.

“We are committed to providing equality of opportunity for all our
students and give clear guidelines and training to admissions
tutors that are designed to ensure that no candidate is
disadvantaged due to disability,” said a spokesperson.

Last year, 11 of the 16,500 students at the university were deaf
and 530 had a disability.