Some of Britain's leading universities may consider radical options such as
going private if there is no increase in higher education funding, the
Government's inquiry into student finance was told yesterday.

The introduction of the new A* grade at A-level this summer will boost the chances of private school students going to university, research published yesterday indicated.

The Browne review into student finance and higher education funding received some forthright evidence last week about how much more finance universities needed. Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, went so far as to say that her members would have to consider radical steps such as going private if the government didn't increase cash for the universities. And Paul Wellings, vice chancellor of Lancaster University, said students would expect to see minimum class sizes and a commitment to a given amount of contact time with lecturers if the cap were to be raised on top-up fees.

The Becket School, just southwest of Nottingham city centre, is the most
successful non-selective school in the north for A-level results. Yet some
of its students come from three of the most deprived areas in country,
including from the city’s notorious St Ann’s area, known for its drugs and
guns,anduntil this autumn it was struggling to operate on two sites more
than amile apart, with woefully outdated resources – sixth formers say it
was often hard to find a computer to work on in their private study time.

Private schools are preparing court action in an attempt to block
"politically-motivated" rules forcing them to open up to more poor pupils,
it has been disclosed.