Mark Copestake, who will graduate from the University of Cambridge later this month, has been appointed to a key role at Cambridge Admissions Office (CAO), where he will be encouraging more applications from ethnic minority students.

Mark, 21, a final year student of History of Art at Pembroke College, will take up his new post as University School Liaison Officer/GEEMA Coordinator at CAO on July 1.

GEEMA, the Group for Encouraging Ethnic Minority Applications, was set up in 1989 as a joint effort by students and the Cambridge Colleges to combat the misconception that Cambridge is for a specific “type” of student.

Mark comes from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, where he went to Wickersley School and Sports College. He is the first in his family to go to university. Both his parents worked initially in the steel industry, his mother as a secretary and his father as a works manager.

He says that his English teacher at Wickersley School played an important in giving him the confidence to apply to Cambridge. He visited Homerton College with his school as part of the College Links Scheme, and attended a Sutton Trust Summer School at Oxford – though he decided to apply to Cambridge.

Since starting his degree Mark has contributed to initiatives that encourage more applications from state school pupils and other under-represented groups. His new position at CAO is a natural progression.

For the first two years of his degree, Mark was Undergraduate Access Officer at Pembroke College. He combined this role with working hard academically and playing a lot of sport – athletics, tennis and rowing. “Three years at Cambridge have been a brilliant experience,” he says.

Mark’s job as GEEMA Co-ordinator will entail organising open days and summer schools for ethnic minority pupils from all over the country, giving them the chance to sample life at Cambridge and meets current Cambridge students from similar backgrounds.

“It’s amazing how quickly views on Cambridge can change. Visiting pupils arrive expecting a stuffy and antiquated establishment and a couple of hours later they are buzzing with enthusiasm and asking detailed questions about making an application,” he says.

“They realise that you have to be academically able to make a viable application but it simply doesn’t matter what school you went to or what your family background is.”

Around 14 per cent of Cambridge students are from ethnic minorities. In a picture that reflects national trends, numbers from some groups have grown significantly while others have not. While numbers of applications from students from Indian and Chinese families have risen, those from African-Caribbean backgrounds remain low.

“One of the aspects of my new job that I am looking forward to is further developing relations between Cambridge and under-represented applicants from all backgrounds.

Mark will be visiting schools and colleges to talk to ethnic minority pupils, and he is especially keen to return to his home area. Teachers and careers advisers are welcome to contact him on geema@cao.cam.ac.uk from July 1.

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