Universities to make lower grade offers to poor students

Growing numbers of students applying to university face checks on their school and family background as part of a drive to break the middle-class monopoly on places, The Daily Telegraph has learned.


Figures suggest almost two-thirds of universities will employ data covering students’ social class, parental education or school performance next year to give the most disadvantaged candidates a better chance of getting on to degree courses.


It represents a sharp rise on the four-in-10 universities currently relying on “contextual” data during admissions.


In a move that could leave institutions open to charges of “social engineering”, increasing numbers of admissions tutors are planning to employ information to make lower-grade offers to teenagers from poor-performing comprehensives or fast-track deprived candidates into interviews.


The changes come after the Government’s Office for Fair Access warned that universities had to be more “ambitious” in their efforts to create a diverse student body.


For the first time next year, they will be required to set targets for the number of disadvantaged students being admitted in a move that coincides with a sharp rise in tuition fees.


The Telegraph - Graeme Paton, Education Editor, 16th December 2011