OXFORD University has denied admitting medical students with low A-Level grades as part of a Government incentive to get more working class students through university.
Higher education minister Alan Johnson said places for about 80 students at Britain's top universities with less than three C-grades would be subsidised in 2004-2005, to help ensure they did not drop out. Oxford is among 20 universities, including Cambridge, Imperial College and University College London, involved in the scheme, which paid for 480 medical students in 2003-2004. Last year, £126,092 was allocated to the project and a further £21,950 will be spent in the next year to support students from poor backgrounds.
The scheme was attacked by Conservative education spokesman Chris Grayling, who said: "We should not be compromising our normal standards for medical students just to help meet the Government's political targets in higher education. This also means that top-quality students with good exam results are being denied the chance to study at leading medical schools simply because their social background doesn't fit the Government's plans."
An Oxford University spokesman said only a handful of its medical students had less than straight As, and added: "The university categorically denies admitting any students for any reasons other than their academic ability. Undergraduate places in medicine, as in all subjects, are offered solely on the basis of academic ability and potential, which is assessed through a range of means, including a demanding written test and at least two interviews."
A spokesman for the higher education minister said: "The money is not an incentive for universities to recruit students with lower A-Level scores. It assists universities with the additional costs of retaining able students from disadvantaged backgrounds."
* Laura Spence, the state-school pupil who was refused a place at Oxford University in 2000, is urging other students to follow in her footsteps by applying to US universities. She plans to take a postgraduate medical degree in Britain after graduating in biochemistry from Harvard University.
monica.sloan@nqo.com