Call for access aid

Universities should get cash to teach potential students how to access grants, according to a report published this week.

The recommendation - intended to attract students from poor backgrounds - was made in a review of the impact on student demand of the introduction of tuition fees and the abolition of the student grant, commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The report's authors, Nigel Brown and Tony Clark, said: "Successful completion is likely to provide the best kind of positive feedback to those coming up behind."