'Capital university's anti-English bias could be both illegal and racist' says school head

The row was sparked after Richard Cairns, headmaster of Brighton College where fees are up to 9,700 a term, revealed that 25 of 27 applications to the university from his pupils were rejected. Mr Cairns highlighted an Edinburgh University statement that said: "We want to make sure that our local applicants are not prevented from studying their chosen subject because of the pressure on popular subject areas.

"For certain degree programmes we will give additional weighting to applications from schools in the local area (defined as City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Scottish Borders, Fife, Falkirk and district, Clackmannanshire)."

The university said priority would then be given to applications from the rest of Scotland and Cumbria, Northumberland, Durham, Teeside and Tyne and Wear in the north of England.

She added that the policy had been in place for six years.

But Mr Cairns said this discriminated against the rest of England, particularly the south. "I think it is outrageous that any university should discriminate against young people because of where they live," he said.

"Scotland used to have a proud tradition of looking outwards and attracting some of the greatest international minds to its universities. Edinburgh has opted to turn in on itself and in a manner that strikes me as potentially both illegal and racist."

Andrew Halls, headmaster of King's College School in Wimbledon, which charges senior pupils 5,300 a term, said a discussion with the school's upper sixth students had revealed a problem.

"What came through was that if you had applied to Edinburgh, it was worse than an extremely small chance of getting an offer. We will be advising students not to apply until they sort out their rather perverse admissions, which appears to be anti-English."

But an Edinburgh University spokeswoman insisted that it aims to "attract the very best students from around the world".

She said: "In common with other selective universities, the university wishes to ensure that highly able students from its local area are encouraged to study at one of their local universities, despite intense pressure on places. For this reason, local applicants are afforded a small weighting in the admissions process.

"The university welcomes applicants from outwith Scotland. Indeed last year, on average, 38.3 per cent of English applicants received an offer."

A senior education source last night rejected the accusations as just public schools "whining".

"Edinburgh University does not have a policy of being anti-English. They have the right to set an admissions policy which is designed to get the people in on the basis of their genuine talent and not solely on how they did their exam results. In fact, they have a moral obligation to do that."

The comments come at a time when Scottish universities have received record applications by young people faced with bleak job prospects in the current financial climate. Admissions body Ucas reported last month that the number of applications from Scots rose from 29,549 in 2009 to 38,763 this year.

Competition has been further heightened by some universities reducing places to pay for extra students enrolled last year.

Edinburgh is reducing its 2010 intake by 1,300 places – nearly a third of the total – to maintain overall numbers after a large increase in students last year.