Should fee-paying degrees be abolished for students with lower socio-economic status?
Universities must do more to end elitism in Britain by admitting thousands more students from poorer backgrounds, according to a new report commissioned by Gordon Brown. The leading 13 universities are still failing to give enough preferential treatment to bright pupils from lower-income homes, the study will say. It also proposes no-fee degrees for students who stay at home, a controversial initiative likely to be accepted by Lord Mandelson, who took on responsibility for higher education when his department was expanded last month. The all-party report, written by 20 experts and chaired by former cabinet minister Alan Milburn, was the idea of the prime minister and is due to be published on Tuesday. It has examined barriers to the professions and has grown into a manifesto against social immobility in the UK – a key policy theme for Downing Street. The report, called Unleashing Aspiration, also: • proposes a child education credit, or voucher, for those children from poor backgrounds
