Cameron rejects claim of 'university places for rich

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By Sean CoughlanBBC News education correspondent

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On extra places for rich students, Mr Cameron said: "That is not going to happen. That is not our policy."

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Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected suggestions the government is considering allowing wealthy students to pay for extra university places.

"There is no question of people being able to buy their way into university," Mr Cameron told the BBC.

Universities Minister David Willetts said extra places could be funded by businesses or charities and not wealthy individuals.

But Labour's John Denham accused the government of a "humiliating u-turn".

Mr Willetts had to face questions in the House of Commons over proposals to create extra university places in England which would not depend upon public funding.

'Rich individuals'

In angry exchanges, the minister told MPs that he was considering plans to make it easier for employers and charities to fund additional places - but "rich individuals should not be able to buy their way into universities".

Shadow Business Secretary John Denham attacked the government for a "humiliating climbdown" - and said there were many questions unanswered how any extra places would be allocated.

"I think it is clear that the government still intends to create a two tier system - one method of entry for the most able, another for those with access to private funds from one source or another," said Mr Denham.

There were also questions from MPs about what types of organisations could sponsor their own extra places - would it include independent schools with charitable status or trusts set up for their children by wealthy families.

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ANALYSIS

Norman SmithChief political correspondent, BBC Radio 4

David Willetts is widely know at Westminster as "two brains".

Unfortunately many of his colleagues believe he showed "no brains" - or at least a distinct lack of media savvy - when interviewed about increasing university places.

Where a more down to earth politician would simply have killed off the notion that better off parents could buy their children places at our more prestigious univerisites - Mr Willetts allowed the idea to gain legs.

The results - a screeching, crunching denial some four hours later, just as the idea was threatening to turn into a major political storm, further fuelling tensions within the coaltion.

It underlines just how sensitive relations within the coalition have become in the wake of last week's crunching defeats for the Lib Dems in the local elections.

Mr Cameron had earlier moved to quash the idea that there should be a different system of places for wealthy students - saying that Mr Willetts had not intended that.

"That is not going to happen. That is not our policy... The government's policy is absolutely clear that university access is about the ability to learn and not the ability to pay," said Mr Cameron.

At present, universities can create extra places and set their own fees for overseas students - and there were suggestions that a forthcoming White Paper would allow such flexibility to be extended to wealthy UK students.

This would mean that universities would be able to create more places for self-funded students, outside of the quota of publicly-funded places.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Willetts had said: "People are coming to us with innovative ideas about how you could liberalise the system - so that it would be possible for extra people to get to university."

Any such proposals would have to comply with the government's support for social mobility, he said.Continued