LEEDS Metropolitan University says it is already meeting the demands of a Govermment minister who has called on universities to recruit more white, working-class boys in the same way they target students from other ethnic minorities.
David Willetts says white, working-class teenage boys should be categorised alongside ethnic groups and those from disadvantaged communities when universities look to attract students.
The Universities Minister said he would suggest the inclusion of white, working-class boys as a target group for recruitment in university access agreements, which universities have to sign to gain permission to charge higher fees, in a meeting with Professor Les Ebdon, the director of Offfice for Fair Access.
However, an Offa spokeswoman told the Yorkshire Evening Post that several universities, including Leeds Met, already do this.
Leeds Met launched a scheme to help attract more white working-class boys into higher education in 2008 after a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation warned about the low attainment among this group.
It was extended two years ago to include all working-class boys because of concerns that the scheme was too small.
It has received funding from both the university and Leeds entrepreneurs Terry George and Michael Rothwell for the past two years and talks about its future funding are ongoing.
The scheme is currently run in five Leeds schools: Bruntcliffe, Leeds West Academy, Pudsey Grangefield, Morley Academy and Swallow Hill Community College.
Schools are asked to identify up to 25 boys aged 14 from low income backgrounds with the potential of achieving at least five good GCSEs including English and maths. Leeds Met then works with them over the next four years to help them improve studying skills and give them a taste of university life.
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