Every university's admissions policies to be scrutinised

All universities will have to submit details of their admissions procedures to a government body under plans to reassure students that their applications are fairly treated, the universities secretary, John Denham, will reveal today.

The plan includes a major expansion of the role of the Office for Fair Access (Offa), giving it powers to scrutinise the admissions procedures of every university on an annual basis. Universities could face financial penalties if they are proved to have unfair policies.

The move comes amid accusations that some universities favour private school pupils, while others are undertaking "social engineering" by giving unfairly low offers to state school pupils from the poorest backgrounds, Denham will say in a speech to a conference of university vice-chancellors. It follows a separate crackdown on schools which are breaking the admissions code.

Denham will tell the annual conference of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) today: "On the one hand, universities that try to take a student's individual background, the challenges they have faced, into account are liable to be accused of political correctness and social engineering. On the other, there are plenty of people prepared to take the fact of a disproportionate number of students from more privileged backgrounds at a particular university as prima facie evidence of snobbery and social bias.

"Ultimately, the debate is corrosive of public confidence in the system. So I think we have to look for confidence-building measures; measures that will reassure the public; but measures too which are based on the fundamental principle that universities decide whom they should admit.

"The answer lies, surely, as it so often does, in openness, transparency and accountability."

Under the new plans, universities will have to submit an annual statement on their admissions procedures to Offa, which will scrutinise their processes to ensure they are fair. Details still being considered include whether penalties might be levied and whether there will be a blueprint against which all universities will be measured. Such a blueprint would have to resolve the question of universities making lower offers to pupils from disadvantaged areas.

Sir Martin Harris, the head of Offa, and Professor David Eastwood, the chief executive of Hefce, have been asked to draw up details. A spokesman for Denham added that they would consider all options on how the policy would be implemented - including whether Offa would use its existing statutory powers to remove a university's right to charge higher fees if it judged its admissions process to be unfair.

David Willetts, the shadow universities secretary, called the plans a "lightweight response to a serious problem" after figures suggested the government's policies to widen participation at university were stalling.

"Part of the respect British universities command across the world is because they don't compromise on academic standards in admissions. There shouldn't be any political interference in who should go to universities," he said.

Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell group, which represents the top research-led universities, said that members already published information individually on their processes, proving they were fair and transparent.