LSE admits state school pupil quota

A leading university has admitted using a quota system favouring state school pupils over better-qualified students from the independent sector.

The London School of Economics (LSE) has had the policy for at least five years. It has sparked fears among independent sector headteachers that their pupils are being discriminated against, as universities try to meet government targets for recruiting poorer students.

At LSE, admissions tutors can ask that a student with low predicted A-level grades, from a school whose benchmark GCSE results are below the national average, should be counted as part of a quota under the Discretionary Places Scheme.

Nationally, 54 per cent of students currently gain five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C - the benchmark result. Figures in today's Times Literary Supplement show 40 places a year have been set aside.

Bedford School headmaster Philip Evans said: "It appears to confirm our fears that there is no longer a level playing field in admissions." But LSE said about 40 per cent of its places available to British applicants go to those from fee-paying schools - which educate seven per cent of pupils aged 15 to 18.