Oxford University settles 'selection by wealth' case

Postgraduate admissions policy to be reviewed after student sued St Hugh's for rejecting him for not having access to funds

Oxford University is to review its postgraduate admissions policy after settling a case with a student who sued one of its colleges for discriminating against the poor.

The university will re-examine a policy under which its colleges select students not just on academic merit, but on their ability to prove they have the up-front resources to pay tens of thousands of pounds for both tuition fees and living expenses.

The review will come too late for thousands who have been unable to study at the university due to the "financial guarantee", but it may help those seeking to join Oxford this September.

Across the sector, the latest figures show that domestic students are increasingly finding postgraduate study too expensive. Almost 16,000 fewer British students started postgraduate courses at UK universities in 2011-12 compared with the previous academic year – an 8% drop, according to data released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Earlier this year the Observer revealed how Damien Shannon, 26, was suing St Hugh's college for "selecting by wealth".

He claimed that the college, founded in 1886, was discriminating against the poor by asking students to prove that they had liquid assets sufficient to cover £12,900 a year in living costs, in addition to potentially tens of thousands of pounds in tuition fees.

Under the university-wide policy the college refused to take into account projected earnings from students who planned to do paid work during their course.

In a statement agreed between Shannon and the college, they jointly announced they had "resolved the dispute between them, and that the court proceedings in Manchester county court are at an end with immediate effect"

- guardian.co.uk