Edinburgh and Glasgow universities reserving clearing places for Scotland’s poorest students

Edinburgh and Glasgow are only accepting applications for clearing places from students living in Scotland's 20 per cent poorest postcodes, following regulations set by the Scottish Government's Commission on Widening Access.

The commission aims to lower university admission thresholds for students from the most deprived backgrounds.

The universities have spoken out to confirm their quota of places for more privileged students has already been filled, meaning the remaining places available through the clearing process must be allocated to young people from more deprived areas.

This step is expected to not only increase the number of students from lower income backgrounds at both universities, but also the number of Scottish students – as it has previously been revealed that thousands of clearing places at Scottish universities are only available to fee-paying from England and Wales, rather than Scots who are able to study in the country for free.

The initiative has nevertheless come under fire, described as "extraordinarily unfair and ill-informed" by Professor Lindsey Paterson, who highlighted the fact that 65 per cent of Scottish teenagers living in low income households do not in fact live in the 20 per cent poorest postcodes.