ONE of Britain’s leading universities has rejected an independent school pupil with four A grades at A-level after applying a mathematical formula that gives an automatic advantage to pupils from poorly performing schools.

The boy, who studied at St Paul’s school in London applied to an oversubscribed history and modern languages course at Durham.

The university told him it had applied the formula, which compares a candidate’s GCSE grades with the average for their school, to distinguish between highly qualified applicants.

The St Paul’s case has highlighted how a growing number of universities are using formal systems to discriminate against pupils from high-performing independent and state schools.

Durham, which is trying to raise its proportion of state-educated students, says it is complying with government recommendations.

Critics say it is unfair to those from better schools to use such sweeping systems to put them at an automatic disadvantage.

In an e-mail sent in February, Lawrence Black, a senior history lecturer at Durham, told the boy he had been turned down “using a mathematical formula to recognise applicants who perform very well at GCSE despite attending a school where average performance is weak”.

“I was astonished when I saw the letter,” said the boy’s mother. “It is a farce if middle-class parents are scrimping and saving to send our children to private schools only to find out that when it comes to university entrance it actually works against them. “It isn’t fair. They should make the state system better.”

The boy, who, unlike most candidates, applied after his A-levels, scored A grades in Latin, English, German and history. St Paul’s, where day fees are £16,000 per year, is ranked seventh in The Sunday Times Parent Power league .

Martin Stephen, its high master, said he had no evidence pupils were being discriminated against, but added: “I would be extremely concerned if I felt unfair profiling techniques were being imposed.

“It is usually a retrograde step if universities engage in social engineering.”

The Durham system is designed to compensate able pupils who have been badly taught.

A candidate’s eight best GCSEs are given a value with an A* receiving one point and an A rating 0.6, giving a maximum of eight points. A “modifier” of between 0 and 5.5 points is then added to the total, depending on the average GCSE performance of the school.

The lower the school’s average GCSE score, the higher the modifier. The student rejected from St Paul’s got eight A* GCSEs, the school average.

The final score is used to assess a candidate alongside factors such as AS-level grades, actual or predicted A-levels, personal statements and school references.

Durham said this weekend it had introduced the system in response to recommendations last year by the National Council for Educational Excellence, endorsed by Gordon Brown, the prime minister, and John Denham, the universities secretary.

A spokesman added: “Every application is important to us and each one is assessed by academic members of staff who are experts in their field actively involved in teaching.”

How it all adds up

The Durham formula compensates bright applicants who have been inadequately taught.

Each candidate’s top eight GCSEs are given a score – one point for an A* and 0.6 for an A , allowing a maximum eight points.

A similar process is then used to reach an average score for pupils at the applicant’s school.

The school’s score produces a “modifier” of up to 5.5 points – the lower a school’s average, the higher the modifier. This is added to the applicant’s score to give a final academic rating used in assessing the application.

The effect is that candidates with straight A*s are at a disadvantage if such good grades are the norm for their school.

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