Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, is to offer a foundation year to students from under-represented backgrounds as part of an initiative aimed at enhancing the diversity of its student body.

The four-year pilot scheme will begin in the autumn in association with Trinity College Dublin, which has operated such a programme for 17 years.

The college said that it will accept 12 students ¡°who tutors think could, and should, benefit from an Oxford education, but who would not normally apply or succeed in competing through conventional channels¡±. The foundation year aims to give them the teaching and support to enable them to progress to a full degree.

It added that it will target students from schools and colleges that historically have had limited progression to Oxford; from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds; and from neighbourhoods with low participation in ÖйúAƬ.

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These are the same target groups that the University of Oxford made a priority in its access agreement with the government¡¯s Office for Fair Access.

Lady Margaret Hall added that it would concentrate on the regions and schools that it has ¡°built up a relationship with over the years¡±. These include Haringey in London, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Powys and Ceredigion.

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Alan Rusbridger, principal of Lady Margaret Hall and former editor of The Guardian, said that the college was founded in 1878 to ¡°right a wrong by admitting people ¨C women ¨C who were excluded from the university¡±.

¡°This pilot scheme will enable young people from under-represented groups to access the transformative opportunity of an Oxford education, while also enhancing the diversity of our student body,¡± he added.

Oxford¡¯s vice-chancellor, Louise Richardson, said that one of the advantages of the university¡¯s collegiate system was that it ¡°allows us to engage in a small-scale pilot like this to help us identify innovative ways to recruit under-represented groups¡±.

Patrick Prendergast, provost and president of Trinity College Dublin, said that each year 90 per cent of its foundation year cohort complete the course successfully and progress to a degree course.

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¡°Their degree outcomes have been impressive, and they have made a real contribution to the social and cultural environment of Trinity. Indeed, our current students¡¯ union president entered the university after completing our foundation year,¡± he said.

The announcement by Lady Margaret Hall came a week after a University of Cambridge college, St John¡¯s, said?that it was introducing a scheme to fund the term-time living costs of undergraduates from poorer families.

ellie.bothwell@tesglobal.com