Most students for £18,000-a-year university from private schools

Around a fifth of those due to attend the New College of the Humanities (NCH) when it opens this autumn are from the state sector.

NCH is a new private university headed by philosopher AC Grayling.

Its founders have said the £18,000-a-year institution will offer the “highest-quality” education to “gifted” undergraduates, and hope it will rival Oxford and Cambridge.

Yesterday Prof Grayling announced that NCH had received 355 applications so far from students aiming to start this September, and 91 offers have been made.

Of these offers, 22 per cent have been made to youngsters attending state schools (around 20 students). Two-thirds (66 per cent) of offers are to private school pupils, eight per cent are not coming directly from school, and four per cent are mature students.

Prof Grayling rejected concerns that NCH will be mainly for rich students from private schools.

“Anything that’s high quality, very demanding, can be described as elite,” he said.

“I personally don’t have any difficulty with the word elite. You would like your surgeon or airline pilot taught at an elite institution. Elite doesn’t mean exclusive.”

Prof Grayling said the university has been making efforts to look for “very bright people across the board”.

Jane Phelps, NCH’s director of external relations, said the institution had faced problems making contact with students at state schools.

“We’re very, very keen to talk to state schools, it’s been extraordinarily difficult to get in, to find the right people to talk to and get an invitation to go.”

NCH professors and staff have been holding talks at private and state schools throughout England, she said.

“Generally speaking it’s easier to get to the right person to talk to in academies,” Ms Phelps said.