LSE Apologises After 'Racist' Kung-Fu Panda Email.. As 30% Of Its Students Are From Asia

LSE Apologises After 'Racist' Kung-Fu Panda Email.. As 30% Of Its Students Are From Asia

The London School of Economics, one of Britain's top universities, had to apologise after sending out an email to its students, 30% of whom are Asian, with the test name "Aa-Kung Fu, Panda Tiger".

The LSE emailed all future undergraduate students who had gained a place at the university congratulating them on their success.

However the email read: "This is to certify that Aa-Kung Fu, Panda Tiger Test Test.. has firmly accepted an unconditional offer of admission to the London School of Economics."

The controversial email

Christy Pang was one of the new students who received the bizarre email, ahead of beginning a history degree.

"I thought it was some kind of racist joke at first, but it turned out to be some sort of a test," she told student website the Tab.

The apology from LSE

A spokesperson for LSE said: "A welcoming e-mail that LSE sent out to some successful applicants contained an error as a result of a technical problem with coding in the database used.

"This meant that the email did not pick up some of the fields correctly.

"For example, instead of inserting the applicant’s name, the e-mail included the name from a test record which is ‘Kung Fu Panda’.

"The use of this ‘name’ merely reflects that a member of staff who set up the test record is fan of the film.

"The e-mail was sent to all students and did not target students from any particular background.

"An apology e-mail was swiftly sent out when the error was detected and the correct welcome e-mail was sent later the same day.

"Other test names used by LSE include ‘Piglet’, ‘Paddington’, ‘Homer’, ‘Bob’ and ‘Tinkerbell'."

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