Writing in the Daily Telegraph, David Willetts says this newspaper’s disclosure that overseas applicants were being told they could get a place with lower academic requirements are “salutary” for universities and warns of the danger of students unprepared for the rigorous standards of leading colleges.

The Daily Telegraph reported how one of the biggest education agents in China told a fictional Chinese student they could study at top universities even though her grades were lower than those required for Britons. In an undercover investigation seven out 10 official agents agreed to relax standards.

Now it can be disclosed that agents representing Exeter, Sheffield, Kent, Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle universities all claimed that normal academic standards could be relaxed for a Chinese applicant.

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