State-educated students at The University are Edinburgh are claiming they have experience discrimination based on their accents.
The 93 per cent Club – who campaign across the UK for educational equality for those who didn’t attend private school – have criticised the environment at the university.
Students claim that “accent discrimination” is prevalent at the institution, with those with Scottish accents allegedly viewed as “chavs”.
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Andrew Wilson, President of the 93 per cent Club at Edinburgh University, is in the final year of his linguistics degree.
He told Edinburgh Live : “For students coming from state schools, there’s an overwhelming sense of imposter syndrome. It feels like everyone should be on the same path to learn and grow, but you feel very different.
"As a student from the north of England, there have been countless times where I’ve had my accent imitated, been on the receiving end of smirks and patronising looks. I’ve also had ignorant and insulting assumptions about my hometown, with students and staff expressing surprise that I even ‘managed to make it to Edinburgh.
“It’s staff and students that have been guilty of accent discrimination. It can be the looks given to you when you speak. Scottish students can be seen as the chavs. Students should feel empowered to call out these microaggressions.”
Andrew, who went to school in Blackpool, was previously President of the university’s Student Association, claims that senior management have failed to tackle the issue effectively.
He said: “We’re trying to raise awareness of the issue because the university almost shies away from it and doesn’t want to admit that there’s a problem.
“I think staff should be trained on how to deal with it because even when students do feel more comfortable to come forward and share their experiences, staff don’t know what to do.
“The University can widen access all they want, but if you feel like an outsider, that’s not an equitable experience. Especially at Edinburgh, where there’s all this grandeur and pomp. It almost acts as a smokescreen for the poor experiences of students from state schools.”
The 93% Club have launched a new campaign called ‘State School Stories’, with the aim of raising awareness of the supposed challenges students who have not been privately educated face.
Perth-born Lorna, who is the club’s outreach officer, said: “I didn’t expect to feel out of place, or like an outsider as a Scottish student at a Scottish university.
I think it’s important to be state school proud because we literally make up a large majority of the UK population, yet here we feel out of place, or other, or not as intelligent as our peers who had a better education than us.”
However, the University has defended its record on state school students, highlighting the rising number of applicants accepted from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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