BRIGHT students from poor-performing schools should be admitted to university with worse A-level results than other pupils, a minister claimed yesterday.

Academics should look beyond A-level grades to select pupils by their “potential” to succeed in higher education, said David Willetts, the universities minister.

He also suggested that rising numbers of poorly qualified students should be given a “foundation year” before the start of their full degree course to enable them to catch up.

Mr Willetts denied accusations of “social engineering”, but insisted a “serious sorting exercise” was needed to ensure the university admissions system was based on “genuine meritocracy”.

He spoke as the Government announced that a record total of about £900million would be spent in 2012-13 on reforms designed to boost access to university — up by £100million in three years.

Last month, figures showed that most universities belonging to the elite Russell Group admitted fewer pupils from state schools and the most deprived backgrounds in 2010-11.

With unprecedented demand for university places, academics insisted that many bright students failed to apply or fell short of tough entry requirements.

In a speech in London, Mr Willetts called for a “renewed push to ensure that universities are broadening participation and improving access” as a pay-off for allowing institutions to charge up to £9,000 annually in tuition fees this year.

“What we all want to see is not social engineering — and certainly not quotas — but quite simply genuine meritocracy,” he said. “Because entry to our universities is a competitive process, with more applicants than there are places, there has to be a serious sorting exercise.” Mr Willetts added that admissions “can be based on more than just A-level results, by looking at all the information that indicates the potential of an individual to succeed”.

“The aim is that those who can perform best at any given university are selected for it,” he said.

“We now spend a lot of money trying to overcome the barriers which might stop those who are perhaps at weaker schools or in low-participation neighbourhoods going to university.” A study last year found that almost 23 per cent of universities were planning to make “lower offers” to candidates from poor backgrounds starting in 2012 — up from 18 per cent in the previous year.

Addressing the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Mr Willetts said that central government and individual universities were preparing to spend £900million in 2012-13 on programmes designed to widen access.