Ms. Betancourt is taking only the clothes on her back, a compass, her high-school certificate and a photo of her 4-year-old-son, Jesus Lamas Betancourt, whom she is leaving behind with his father.

On Tuesday Mr Gove argued perfectly plausibly for striking this balance, citing the breadth of high-school certificates everywhere from Alberta to Singapore in support of his conviction that humanities have to be part of the mix.

Undergraduate admission policy is governed by the Board of Higher Education of Sudan, which sets the minimum admission requirement for high school students based on their national origin (Sudanese vs. non-Sudanese) and the high-school certificate board.

Intended for students who have obtained their high-school certificates in Quebec or the equivalent elsewhere in Canada, the program prepares students to continue their studies at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario.