Originally Posted by
Airbanda
So the normal practice is to appoint first those who passed selection tests with the highest marks.
In order to increase diversity they're appointing people who passed selection with, perhaps only slightly, lower marks but who are female or from an ethnic minority.
Is that what it boils down to?
No.
The normal practice is "first past the post" - those who meet the selection criteria first, get in.
What they wanted to do was make sure that the first in were those who also happened to be female or an ethnic minority, juggling around the timetable and bypassing others on the list.