Universities are mounting “hard left” contextual admissions policies, amounting to “widespread discrimination” against students from wealthier backgrounds as “abhorrent” as racism, according to a former government adviser.
Iain Mansfield, until recently a key driver of higher education policy as adviser to universities ministers and an education secretary, made the comments at a fringe event on access at the Conservative conference in Birmingham.
Despite the intense focus on university access there is “often remarkably little evidence presented that access is unfair”, Mr Mansfield, now director of research at the Policy Exchange thinktank, told the event, hosted by the Higher Education Policy Institute.
