OFFA will be supported by the Higher Education Funding Council, with a remit to address the social class gap.
The application rate to top universities by students from low socioeconomic backgrounds is eight per cent, one per cent of which are admitted. Universities charging for top-up fees will have to justify it by demonstrating their outreach work in schools and colleges.
The remit was criticised by Skill, a disabled-students charity, which claims the targets ignore disabled people. In 2001-02, 4.65 per cent of university students had disabilities, up 0.55 per cent on the year before.
But according to the Disability Rights Commission, in 2001 10 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds had a disability.
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