Patten: University quotas will hit standards

UNIVERSITIES cannot accept more ethnic minority students without eroding standards, the chancellor of Oxford University has warned.

Ministers are pressing ahead with proposals to require all universities to publish the gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background of their in- take in what Jo Johnson, the universities minister, has called a “transparency revolution”.

Amid rising pressure to accept students from diverse backgrounds, Lord Patten of Barnes has blamed schools for failing to prepare students and warned that any enforced quotas would result in a lowering of academic standards. A White Paper, published today and to be mentioned in the Queen’s Speech, which sets out the biggest reforms to higher education in nearly two decades, will force universities to provide value for money and encourage a free market philosophy in higher education.

Universities must publish

information about the jobs which graduates secure, their average earnings and how much time they spend in classes. Lecturers and students will also be able to switch courses more easily.

Institutions scoring highly in teaching will be able to raise the £9,000 annual tuition fees in line with inflation. A relaxation of rules will give more institutions – including US rivals like Harvard and MIT and firms such as Facebook and Google – degree-awarding powers for courses run in Britain.

Ucas, the university admissions service, will make available application and offer rates, broken down by social class, gender and ethnicity. The paper warns that it is “unacceptable” that those from the most advantaged backgrounds are six times more likely to go to leading universities. A new Office for Students will play a role in forcing institutions to focus on “access and participation”.

Mr Johnson said: “This is important information that will enable us to drive social mobility and opportunity. It’s a transparency revolution.”

But Lord Patten said: “I am in favour of universities recognising their responsibilities for promoting social inclusion but I don’t think that if you want high-class universities you should expect them to lower their standards in order to make up for some inadequacies in our secondary education system. Quotas must mean lower standards. There are better ways of addressing social inclusion at universities.”

Sources said the Queen’s Speech will include a Higher Education Bill which will put forward the legislation for the White Paper to be implemented.