University access chief criticised

Mr Collins accused ministers of attacking middle-class aspirations

The government is playing "party political football" with university admissions, the Shadow Education Secretary, Tim Collins, has said.

He said the proposed "access regulator" for England showed Labour still had "old, class war instincts".

But the Higher Education Minister, Kim Howells, dismissed the criticism as an "avalanche of clichés".

University admissions, he told the Commons, would "remain the sole responsibility of institutions".

'Misconception'

During an Opposition debate on admissions, Dr Howells said: "The first misconception is that this government wants to tell universities how to manage their admissions process.

"Nothing could be further from the truth."

Mr Collins said the state had no role to play in telling universities whom they should admit.

He also attacked the role of the Director of Fair Access, Sir Martin Harris, who was appointed earlier this month.

Any university which wants to charge students annual tuition fees of between £1,150 and £3,000 from 2006 will need an "access agreement" with him.

Mr Collins said: "With an election coming and core Labour voters to reassure, a blood sacrifice has to be made to the old socialist gods - and butchering middle-class aspiration will fit the bill nicely."

But Dr Howells said it was a "myth" that the government set quotas to dictate how many students a university must accept from low-income families, state schools and deprived areas.

The government was "in the business of opening access to those with disadvantaged backgrounds".

Assurance

He acknowledged that Oxford University, for example, was working to encourage more youngsters in such communities to consider going to university.

The result might be that they would apply to a university, but not Oxford itself - thus having no impact on Oxford's admissions statistics.

But such efforts would be taken into account by the access regulator, he said.

The "benchmark" figures produced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency simply measured "where universities are in terms of access and where they could be, all things being equal".

Mr Collins said: "We believe that universities should select on academic merit."

The Conservative Party has promised to remove the access regulator if elected.

Liberal Democrat spokesman David Rendel said the state should not interfere in the management of admissions but had a legitimate role in ensuring there was a "level playing field".

"Admitting pupils from comprehensive schools with lower A-level grades than those from independent schools is not only right, it's necessary if those with the best potential are to get the best places," he said.

MPs voted by 332 to 136 against a Conservative motion to do away with the access regulator.