Private schools accuse seven universities of discrimination

Independent head teachers yesterday accused seven of the country's top universities of adopting admission procedures which are discriminating against private pupils in favour of those from state schools.

Edward Gould, chairman of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference (HMC), which represents independent schools such as Eton and Harrow, said three universities in particular – Bristol, Edinburgh and the London School of Economics – gave "cause for anxiety''.

The survey by the HMC of the country's top 18 universities (the Russell group of elite universities, plus Durham) said the three made conditional offers to students on lower A-level grades than their rivals and rejected a far higher proportion of students. At the LSE, more than three out of every four pupils from HMC schools were rejected.

There were similar concerns about recruitment to law at Manchester and Durham universities and history at Nottingham and University College, London. Oxford and Cambridge were given a clean bill of health.

Mr Gould told the HMC conference in Newport, Gwent, that the practice smacked of "social engineering''. Universities can obtain cash incentives from the Government if they recruit more students from underprivileged backgrounds.

"In promoting a policy of social inclusion, universities are being encouraged to identify talented students from non-traditional and low-income homes,'' he said.

"In itself this is admirable. But if fund-starved universities are to be offered increased funding under whatever guise to meet certain benchmarks of students, a benchmark quickly becomes a quota and potentially discriminatory."

However Margaret Hodge, the Minister for Higher Education, said universities should be "applauded and not denigrated" if they sought to widen participation. "Admissions are a matter for universities but I look forward to receiving HMC's research because we want to widen participation fairly and openly," she said.