UK universities ‘must change approach’

The British government’s advocate for access to education has warned top universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, that they need to change their recruiting procedures.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes said the Russell Group institutions had “no excuse” not to improve access.

He also hit out at universities seeking to charge the maximum £9,000 in tuition fees, warning that no institution should be allowed to set fees above the cost of a course.

Mr Hughes, a prominent critic of the government’s decision to allow tuition fees to treble, was appointed by David Cameron to lead efforts to persuade young people they can still afford to go to university.

He said the Russell Group of leading universities, and especially Oxford and Cambridge, should follow the example of leading US institution Harvard in improving recruitment procedures.

He said: “They have to change their process of interview and recruitment. They are, at the moment, being far too subjective, Oxbridge in particular.

“Look at Harvard and other places. They don’t have the people who are going to be doing the teaching doing the recruiting, they have selection on a needs-blind basis and they have one of the best universities in the world.”

During a Commons debate on higher education, Mr Hughes said it appeared the government’s claim that institutions would only set fees of £9,000 a year in “exceptional circumstances” had been inaccurate.

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