Admissions policy will force Oxford to go private, says college head

Oxford University would eventually leave the state higher education system because of government interference with student admissions, the head of one of its leading colleges predicted yesterday.

Oxford University would eventually leave the state higher education system because of government interference with student admissions, the head of one of its leading colleges predicted yesterday.

Michael Beloff, president of Trinity College,and a confidant of Tony Blair, predicted that Oxford would opt to become independent of state finance in the next two decades.

A fundraising drive is being launched by Dr John Hood, its new vice-chancellor, who was installed yesterday, and Mr Beloff said that the scheme would bring in enough cash through endowments to allow the university to go it alone.

Academics predict that other universities in the elite Russell Group, which represents the top 19 higher education research institutions in the country, will follow suit.

Sir Colin Lucas, Oxford's departing vice-chancellor, used his final speech to the university to condemn the Government for its "distrust of universities". Regulation of higher education was growing and damaging universities' ability to make strategic decisions, he said. Universities were right to fear for the future.

Leading universities were incensed by quotas, published last week by a government agency, that raised the targets for recruitment of state-school pupils. Oxford's figure rose from 68 per cent to 77 per cent. It now takes just over 55 per cent.

The universities are worried that they may be penalised financially by the Office for Fair Access. The office is being set up to ensure that, before universities can charge the top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year which take effect in 2006, they sign agreements aimed at recruiting more working-class students.

Mr Beloff, speaking at the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in St Andrews, Scotland, said yesterday: "The Department for Education and Skills should take its tanks off our lawn. Give us the tractors. We need financial help." He added: "Diversity [in recruitment] as an aim makes no more sense for Oxford than it does for Arsenal: no one suggests that Arsene Wenger should pick more white footballers simply because they are white."

Mr Beloff said that children were not responsible for their parents' choice of school and should not be penalised. "If universities are forced to elect unsuitable students, they will either have to fail them or lower their degree pass marks."

Forcing universities to take in more state school pupils was "relieving the Government of its own responsibility for ensuring an improvement of standards in the maintained sector".

Mr Beloff said that even the maximum £3,000 a year top-up fee would not generate sufficient income for the university and that it would become independent "within 15 to 20 years''. He added: "The bargain would be to look after our own students and raise money through fees and have bursaries for those who can't afford them."

However, Sir Colin said that Oxford should never go private. He argued that higher education was a matter of public interest and so should always receive support from the public purse. Any university that went private risked losing its independence by becoming reliant on new benefactors "with strong agendas", Sir Colin said.