More state pupils now getting into Oxbridge

More state school pupils are going to Oxbridge - but not as many as the Government wants.

New figures out later this month will show that Cambridge has boosted its proportion of state pupils this year by two per cent - taking the total to 57 per cent of undergraduates. But this is well below the Government's target of 68 per cent.

At Oxford, the proportion of state pupils has fallen from 54 to 52 per cent this year, although this is more than outweighed by massive growth in the past five years in the number of state school admissions. But, like Cambridge, Oxford also has a long way to go to match the Government's target for its proportion of state school undergraduates - 69 per cent.

The figures for admissions last October - reflected in an Evening Standard survey of some of London's top schools - emerged as sixth-form pupils are beginning to receive conditional offers for courses starting this October.

Uncertainty is mounting among independent school heads and parents as Professor Steven Schwartz, vice chancellor of Brunel University, draws up proposals on behalf of the Government to boost the number of bright state school pupils at university.

Among his interim plans, published last autumn, he suggested that more universities could admit such pupils even if they got lower A-level grades than pupils from independent schools applying for the same courses.

Half of UK universities, including Bristol, already do so - but not Oxford and Cambridge.

Further fears about discrimination were raised yesterday when the Government disclosed the ability of universities to charge higher fees would be linked to its success in widening access.

Dr Martin Stephens, chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, representing top independent schools, said: "I have no problem in accepting that a pupil who goes to a less advantaged school than mine and gets a B grade may have achieved more than one of our pupils who gets an A.

"However potential is measured, completing a university course assumes a basic amount of actual knowledge as well."

"The key thing is to leave decisions on who to admit to universities and not to make it a matter of Government policy."

But John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said: "We need a level playing-field that has to be created by consideration of more than just A-level grades on their own."

A spokesman for Cambridge University said it was committed to offering places to the best-qualified students, regardless of their background.