Cambridge University is hoping to encourage students from poorer backgrounds to apply by forging links with schools in London's east end.
The principal of Cambridge's Newnham College Patricia Hodgson has told head teachers from Tower Hamlet schools how the university's area links scheme would create opportunities for schools who have never sent pupils to Cambridge.
"We need to challenge the imagination of young people to aspire", she told the 96-strong audience. "The best advice we can give to young people is to aim for the best, whether it’s a job, course, college or university.
"Above all, we have to equip young people to go where their imagination and potential leads them."
In the past two years, Newnham College has been establishing a relationship with Mulberry School in Tower Hamlets by putting pupils from the school in touch with Cambridge students to get advice and information about the university and writing personal statements. For the first time, the secondary school will be sending a pupil to the Cambridge college to read English.
But there are those who believe no amount of encouragement will change the status quo.
Jordan, a sixth-form pupil at a school in Tottenham, said: "One speech is not going to change anything. People like me don't end up at Oxford or Cambridge. It's just the way things are."
Certainly, a report published by the Sutton Trust in July this year revealed shocking statistics showing where Oxbridge entrants had previously been educated. Four leading independent schools (St Paul’s, St Paul’s Girls, Westminster and Eton) and one sixth-form college (Hills Road, Cambridge) produced more Oxbridge students in the past five years than 2,000 state schools and colleges combined.
Neil O'Brien, director of Policy Exchange, an independent think tank, feels far too many children still think of Oxford and Cambridge as "something akin to a distant planet".
In his blog he writes: "The independent school sector (plus a few leading state schools) has always produced a disproportionate number of entrants to top universities.
"The real focus should be on ensuring that all school children are enabled and encouraged to fulfil their true potential, regardless of background."