Universities pledge to interview state pupils

A group of leading universities will guarantee interviews to gifted working-class teenagers amid mounting government pressure to take more students from state schools.

King's College London and eight other institutions have promised interviews or entrance exams to bright sixth-formers from disadvantaged backgrounds under the plan.

They will also share information on candidates, meaning a student rejected by King's could be helped to a place at Exeter or Warwick.

Universities Secretary John Denham-will give details of the proposal at the Labour conference today.

It will be welcomed by many on the Left who feel the "old school tie" still counts for more than ability when it comes to university admissions. But critics have attacked the Government's drive to widen access for workingclass students as "social engineering".

Last week, Mr Denham clashed with Oxbridge and claimed top universities were not trying hard enough attract students from poor backgrounds.

The group of institutions in the agreement does not include Oxford or Cambridge, where interviews and exams are already common.

Mr Denham said: "I have always been clear that we must allow the most talented and hard working of our young people to achieve their full potential, irrespective of what kind of social background they came from, or the school they went to.

"This does not mean imposing admissions policies on universities. But it does mean universities recognising their full responsibilities in helping to seek out and develop the best of talents, wherever they are in our society. I am delighted that some of our most selective institutions are working together to make progress in widening participation."

From their 2010 intake, Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, King's, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle, Southampton and Warwick will co-operate to identify gifted children from state schools with the "potential" to do well as university - and guarantee them an interview or assessment.

Academics will be expected to pick out students based on their performance at taster sessions or in projects.

Those who take part in a summer school or outreach programme at one university will be looked on favourably by the other eight.

It raises the prospect that even those failing to meet universities' entry requirements - as high as three As at A level on some courses - will be considered for interviews.

A source from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills said: "It won't mean they are guaranteed a place, but it will mean that they are guaranteed to be assessed."

Last week, Oxford's admissions director told the Standard it could not take many more working-class students without compromising academic standards.

Mr Denham then hit back, accusing Oxford of not trying hard enough to attract deprived students.

He has also been critical of Cambridge whose vice chancellor, Professor Alison Richard, said it was not universities' role to be "engines for promoting social justice".

Both Cambridge and Oxford take more than four out of 10 undergraduates from private schools, despite the fact that only seven per cent of pupils are educated in the independent sector.