UNIVERSITIES are facing mounting political pressure to meet tough targets on attracting more students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Shirley-Anne Sommerville, the Higher Education Minister, said the “disparity” that exists between different institutions “must change”.

The Scottish Government has already appointed Sir Peter Scott as the country's first Commissioner for Fair Access.

However, Ms Somerville has now announced her intention to chair a new group that will co-ordinate and monitor progress across all parts of the education system.

The announcement came during an update on progress towards meeting a Scottish Government target for one fifth of all those starting university in 2030 to be from the poorest 20 per cent of communities.

The government has an interim target for individual universities to have ten per cent of students from the 20 per cent most deprived backgrounds by 2021.

However, although recent statistics show the overall proportion is 10.4 per cent, Scotland’s older universities have much lower proportions.

In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, Ms Sommerville said: “There is disparity between universities in terms of the backgrounds of young people who study with them. That must change.

“Every young person must have equal chances and choices to study at any of our Scottish institutions.”

The minister said she expected the Scottish Funding Council to identify where targets were not being met and set more challenging ones.

She added: “I expect it to do this in a transparent way. To set out clearly, and publicly, the access related activity and ambitions being set by institutions... and to report the progress being made.

“Over the next 12 months I therefore expect universities to make clear and demonstrable progress in this area that will ensure delivery of access thresholds in time for academic year 2019/20.”

Opposition politicians raised concerns the Scottish Government was no longer funding additional places for access arguing this would mean the “displacement” of students from other socio-economic backgrounds.

Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “Some fundamental questions remain for the Scottish Government including whether ministers will review higher education funding to provide additional resources to increase the number of university places and minimise the displacement effect on other well-qualified students.”

Iain Gray, Scottish Labour’s education spokesman, added: “It is a disgrace that your chance of getting to university still depends so much on family background and even more disgraceful that after ten years of SNP government this problem is significantly worse here than in England.

“The SNP has announced a blizzard of frameworks, working groups and outcome agreements, but it has failed to restore funding for widening access.”

A spokeswoman for Universities Scotland, which represents principals, said institutions accepted there were too many social and economic barriers which prevented people getting to higher education.

She said: “The recommendations set out are undoubtedly challenging, as was the message from government, but we have said as a university sector that we will not shy away from that challenge.

“We’re well into work to deliver new ways of doing things in admissions, on articulation from college and on bridging programmes between school and university.

“Universities will play a full part, but the biggest difference to widening access will come if we join up work in the early years all the way through, beyond school and college leavers, to give opportunities to people returning to university as mature learners as well.”