Scottish Universities Reserve Spots for Students From Low-Income Areas

Two of Scotland’s most prestigious universities are reserving all their “clearing” places -- spots for students who fell short of the exam grades necessary to gain automatic acceptance -- for students from the country’s poorest areas, The Telegraph reported. The Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow are both reserving all of their clearing spots for students with a postal code that falls in the bottom 20th percentile in terms of wealth. An Edinburgh spokesman said this is one way of widening access, and Glasgow said its agreement with the Scottish Funding Council sets targets for enrollments from low-income areas that it is trying to meet. However, one education professor criticized the measure as "extraordinarily unfair and ill-informed," saying that 65 percent of young people from low-income households live in postal areas outside the poorest quintile.