‘You’re a Northerner’?: Bridging the gap between the North-South divide in Higher Education

When I enrolled at the University of Warwick, being a student from a small town near Newcastle Upon Tyne, I had a wonderful and welcoming experience. I made really good friends, loved my course and found the campus to be a really beautiful place to live. However, in my first week, I was struck with the thought — where are all the Northern students? Warwick seemed to be filled with international students, or students from the London and wider southern area. Whilst the Warwick Northern Society exists, I had hoped to meet someone from Newcastle, or the North, in an organic way, yet I was met with some peculiar comments as a result.

Honestly, I had never experienced what was typical of the North South divide, it exists in a way I never thought it did. I found no shortage of people telling me where I live was ‘rough’ or even ‘desperate’, even though they had never visited Newcastle, or anywhere even considered northern before. My accent, while not as strong as many, immediately intrigued people. However, amidst the daunting process of leaving home for the first time, I brushed it off quickly.

I had no idea of the inherent issues surrounding the North-South divide within UK universities

In my opinion, the North-South divide is a rather old-fashioned concept. By direct definition, the North-South divide describes the ‘social, economic and cultural disparities between the London and the south-east of England and the rest of the UK’ . People from the South are said to have a better quality of life, greater chances of wealth and higher rates of employment, while the North was the industrial hub of the UK. The North is still adjusting to the effects of deindustrialisation, usually accredited to the Miners’ Strikes of the 1980s, which has led to social changes, as well as political and economic challenges. As discussed by Craig Gent, the ‘politics of the North’ is still a prevalent thing, especially with the Summer General Election coming up, with the general North area often being denoted as the ‘red wall’ (a Labour stronghold).

Being in my 20s, going to a nice school and only hearing the passed-on stories of when the North-East was a mining hub, with my ancestors being prominent ship builders, I had no idea of the inherent issues surrounding the North-South divide within UK universities. After some research, wondering whether my experience was something unique, I was fascinated to read about the ‘toxic attitudes’ towards Northern students at the notably prestigious north-east university, Durham University. In an interview with Durham-born student Lauren White, she stated that she ‘had to seek counselling because of bullying’ due to her working-class background, which became a ‘running joke of the class’, even though she was from the area that the University was situated.

The worst thing I read was about the colloquial, joking term of ‘rolling in the muck’, in an interview with Sam Bright for Novara Media. This term, reminiscent of Bullingdon Club antics, is the challenge of actively sleeping with a Northern working-class person, with certain nights-outs being catered for this exact challenge. Personally, I found this information horrifying, especially as we are all young people, who worked equally hard to attend such universities.

Remnants of these behaviours still exist for modern-day students

If you have not heard about the Bullingdon Club, it is probably a good thing. The Bullingdon Club refers to a notorious boys group at Oxford University, including members such as former Prime Ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson. Whilst presented as an ‘elite dining society’, with the uniforms costing approximately £3,500, their ‘raucous’ activities went a lot further than your typical university societies. Their initiations, covered by the Mirror in 2013, included members such as David Cameron burning £50 notes in front of homeless people, often after trashing local restaurants after a boozy night out.  In a way to reclaim Oxford’s disgraced history surrounding the Bullingdon Club, 2019 saw the widely circulated ‘Class of ’87’ image recreated by homeless people in an exhibition at the Old Fire Station in Oxford. Whilst this is a proud reversion of the shocking acts of the colloquially known “Bullers”, remnants of these behaviours still exist for modern-day students.

Students from the North still remain widely unrepresented

As I was having a casual chat with a friend at the University of Bristol, who is from the same local area as me, she mentioned having similar experiences. She had received many comments such as being told: “you can’t be from Newcastle, you don’t have the accent”, or even being told that it’s less likely to have “vegetarians up North because it’s poorer”. Even friends who decided to attend Newcastle and Northumbria University have had unusual experiences and comments from students who have moved up to the area.

Luckily, for wider students at Warwick, I think this issue is more of a nationwide matter. Whilst my experiences of being a northerner at Warwick are by no means unique, they were equally shocking and very unexpected. The majority of the comments are often in good nature, people are curious to understand your upbringing and your hometown. However, students from the North still remain widely unrepresented, with the area being depicted as ‘uncharted territory for southerners’, rather than a location merely a few hours away.

Although this issue is not major in the grand scheme of cultural issues facing UK universities in present times, it is nevertheless important, and I hope this inherent divide settles itself in the upcoming future.