Scottish/Austrian/Singaporean Chinese | Malaysian Chinese
In the context of the University of Oxford, we hope our names; faces and stories will emphasise that there is a place for everyone at Oxford. According to last year’s admissions data, 700 Oxford undergraduates identify as mixed. In 2016, BAME students accounted for 15.9% of the undergraduate intake. Oxford is diversifying, albeit slowly. We hope to empower mixed heritage students at Oxford and foster a community where they can safely share their own opinions, experiences and stories.
I identify as mixed White-Chinese (Eurasian) & agnostic. My Mother is Malaysian Chinese & my Father is half Singaporean Chinese, a quarter Austrian and a quarter Scottish. At Oxford it’s really easy to fall into superficial conversation topics such as college/subject/mutual friends, but I feel that having a mixed-race and cosmopolitan background lends me a number of experiences which allow for a greater understanding of people, regardless of their respective backgrounds. I definitely had preconception about what my experience in Oxford was going to be like with a particular regard to the types of people who were going to be there. It’s true that some of those stereotypes are present at Oxford, particularly concerning school background, ethnicity and class. Overall, I really just wanted to study my subject at one of the best universities in the world and I was more appreciative of being fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do so rather than being preoccupied with any fears concerning racial diversity. I have experienced a little bit of casual racism every now and again. But on the whole, I think Oxford is a pretty welcoming environment. I think that whilst there is a lot of really good work in representing the different issues at Oxford regarding race and heritage, I feel that mixed race issues have not received quite the same amount of attention. That being said, I am confident that it can only improve, even more so now with the Mixed Heritage Society having been set up by Jess and Alyssa. Although I have only been to a few of the events, I feel that Oxford’s Mixed Heritage Society has definitely made me more aware of just how many students share similar experiences, and I see the society as a fantastic way to begin discussing these experiences, but it is now up to us to carry on the conversation.
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