Many of Britain’s universities are giving in without a fight, reports Tony Halpin, Education Editor of the Times. They are discriminating in favour of state school applicants with lower qualifications, in return for being able to charge higher annual fees.

Despite ministers’ assurances that top-up fees would not affect admissions, vice-chancellors have told the official regulator that they would take more state pupils as long as they could charge maximum fees. The move was attacked last night by senior academics for making social engineering part of the admissions process rather than pure academic merit.

It is apparently not enough to achieve the required grades for university admission. You now have to come from the approved socio-economic class. Some analysts have expressed the view that selection on grounds other than merit will lower the standards and international standing of UK universities and their graduates. They find it disturbing that universities are not doing this out of conviction, but simply to obtain government permission to augment their budgets.

More to the point, it lets state schools off the hook. If their students gain university admissions without qualifying on merit, the pressure to improve is lowered. Many educators think that the UK should be improving its state schools so that their students qualify for university on their ability. If the requirement is lowered, so will be the quality of education they receive.