Obama's top 11 bureaucrats all Oxford alumni: Study

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ANI Washington
Last Updated : Jul 20 2013 | 4:00 PM IST

US President Barack Obama's inner circle has 11 top bureaucrats who attended England's most prestigious Oxford University, a new study has revealed.

According to the National Journal, out of the 250 officials working for Obama, eleven have their higher degrees from UK while none of the UK Cabinet members have degrees from America, The New York Daily News reports.

The review indicated that among the top brass in the Obama administration, more have graduate degrees from England's Oxford University than from public graduate schools in the US.

American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust that runs the Rhodes Scholarship, Elliot Gerson, said that the institute has been sending Americans to Oxford since 1904 and added that he isn't surprised by the preponderance of Oxford grads among American politicians but said 'it's a mistake to say they represent a socioeconomic elite'.

Gerson said that with the Rhodes scholarship 32 Americans are sent to study at Oxford each year and generous scholarships allow Americans the chance to experience the historic school.

However, none of Prime Minister David Cameron's 22 ministers have degrees from an American institution, though two top officials did try out schools in the US.

The report said that Gerson credited the low percentage of American degrees among British politicians to the smaller number of scholarships and fellowships available to British students.

He said that the difference in cost is considerable between Oxford and Cambridge, both public schools, and the private Ivy League schools in the US, the report added.

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First Published: Jul 20 2013 | 3:50 PM IST

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