A North-East university has been accused of introducing "quotas" to curb the number of privately educated school-leavers on certain courses.

Durham was named at the weekend along with Bristol and Edinburgh as universities setting targets to restrict the overall intake of independent school pupils in future years.

Applicants for some courses are said to be graded not only on their A-level results, but on the standard of their school. Candidates with equal scores are more likely to be accepted if their school has a lower ranking.

But the university yesterday insisted it had not introduced lower offers for pupils from state schools.

The move, criticised by some independent schools, comes in the wake of Government encouragement to recruit more from low-performing state schools, with the incentive of extra cash backing expected to be announced by the Higher Education Funding Council this week.

Universities which receive £280 for each student from areas with a low take-up of higher education are expected to see that figure rise to £1,200 in September.

Weekend reports claimed Durham has set targets to limit numbers of students from state schools to 25 per cent on law courses, 32 per cent in English and 38 per cent in history.

A spokeswoman for the university said: "We require three As for law. We haven't changed our academic requirements, but we are under pressure from the Government to take more students from state schools."

Figures released by the university last week showed Durham has almost 1,000 students from backgrounds with little or no tradition of higher education, which it said was "evidence of widening participation".