Anti-English claim levelled at university

EDINBURGH University has been accused of being "anti-English" after it emerged it is favouring candidates from north of the border.

Leading private school headteachers said they were "alarmed" that the institution has said it will "give weighting" firstly to applications for certain subjects from schools in the local area.

A statement on the university's website says: "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." It adds that priority will then be given to students from the rest of Scotland and the north of England.

Richard Cairns, headmaster of Brighton College, said this discriminated against the rest of England.

He said 25 of the 27 applications from Brighton College were turned down.

But an Edinburgh University spokesman said: "Last year on average, 38.3 per cent of English applicants received an offer to study at the university."