Vice-chancellors want Jeremy Hunt to pledge more than a billion pounds to double places for trainee doctors in the budget.
University bosses have written to the chancellor, The Times has learnt, saying that they are poised to address critical staff shortages.
They believe expansion can be achieved with no drop in standards as thousands of talented candidates with top A-level grades and relevant work experience are rejected from medical degrees each year because of strict constraints on numbers.
An NHS workforce plan due to be published this month warns the health service will be short of more than half a million staff without the biggest boost in training for a generation and radical changes to how it recruits frontline professionals.
