Prof Les Ebdon, head of the Government’s Office for Fair Access, has told the most sought-after universities to set the most “stretching” targets.

Speaking at a conference in London on Monday, he said the overall number of poor pupils admitted into higher education had increased by a third over the last decade but insisted numbers had failed to rise at the most prestigious institutions.

Data published earlier this year by the Higher Education Statistics Agency revealed that more than half of top universities recruited fewer pupils from the very poorest families in 2010/11. Two-thirds of institutions belonging to the elite Russell Group also recruited proportionally fewer state school students.

St Andrews, whose alumni include the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, has faced fierce criticism in Scotland for admitting only 14 children from the poorest backgrounds last year.

(Read by Brian Salter. Brian Salter is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

双语资讯

(Agencies)

英国一家最具声望的高校提醒称，强迫大学接受越来越多的贫困学生入学会让大学最终“失败”。

位于苏格兰的圣安德鲁斯大学表示，降低入学难度，从而使学生群体在社会化方面更加平衡，这样做是“完全不诚实的”。这是这所大学首次对此予以反驳。

该校表示，工薪阶层的孩子能进入顶尖大学的机会少，主要是因为孩子的养育和学校教育问题。

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