Admissions to the University of Oxford have become a symbol of social
mobility
"When I arrived the only real debate was about state versus private," he
says.
The big topic was still Laura Spence, the state school girl from the north-
east of England who had 10 A*s in her GCSEs and had been turned away from
Oxford - eventually studying in Harvard instead.
This had provoked the wrath of Gordon Brown, then chancellor, and Mr
Nicholson says it had come to be seen as a "touchstone for why Oxford isn't
meritocratic".
His challenge was to get "behind the headlines" and to develop a much more
detailed understanding of what fair access means in university admissions.
"It is really complex," says Mr Nicholson, who is moving on to run
admissions at Bath University.
Within the 58% of last year's Oxford entry who were "state school" pupils,
there is a mix of privileged and disadvantaged youngsters, from high and low
-achieving schools, grammars, academies and comprehensives.
Greatest need?
Even wanting to attract more low-income students, he says, is not always
straightforward.
Among applicants from deprived families, about a third have been to private
school, presumably with a scholarship. Does this make them disadvantaged
because of their family income, or privileged because of their private
education?