An education arms race led by middle-class parents desperate to ensure that their children enter top universities is making it harder for institutions to admit more students from poorer backgrounds, a former vice-chancellor has warned.

Speaking at Times Higher Education¡¯s World Academic Summit , Sir Nigel Thrift, executive director of the Schwarzman Scholars leadership programme run by Beijing¡¯s Tsinghua University, said that leading universities were facing a new ¡°structural issue¡± of ¡°middle-class activism¡± among pushy parents, who are investing far more in their children¡¯s education than ever before.

Sir Nigel, who led the University of Warwick from 2005 to 2016, told the event?that middle-class families in the US, where he is now based in New York, today spend four times as much on their offspring¡¯s education as they did in 1986.

¡°What was [once] a leisurely group of middle-class people are now suddenly finding themselves having to invest in their kids¡¯ education in a pretty serious way,¡± said Sir Nigel, a leading human geographer. Many parents had sacrificed their ¡°conspicuous consumption¡± on luxury goods to pay for school fees and private tutoring to help their children get ahead, he explained.

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The emergence of this ¡°middle-class activism in a very strong way¡± had led to a highly qualified cadre of middle-class students able to scoop up the majority of places in selective universities, Sir Nigel said.

This created a ¡°headwind¡± for top universities, which had to find room for students from socially disadvantaged groups while also seeking to ¡°produce elites¡±, he continued.

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Universities faced a ¡°balancing act¡­between being elite and inclusive¡±, but ¡°these two things did not always add up¡±, he said.

Speaking to THE?after the event, Sir Nigel said that he ¡°did not blame¡± middle-class parents for investing so heavily in their children¡¯s education because it is normal that ¡°people defend their turf¡±.

¡°The problem is that it makes it difficult to include other people and make room for anyone else,¡± he told THE.?¡°The best thing is to expand the pie,¡± he added, saying that increasing the number of student places at the UK¡¯s Russell Group universities was likely to ¡°cause a rustle, but not a massive stir¡±.

Lord Willetts, the former UK universities minister who chaired the panel, added that he too felt that there was an ¡°arms race in educational attainment¡± that could make university access more challenging.

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However, Carol Folt, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that it remained a ¡°moral imperative [for universities]¡­to seek out talent and find a way for it to thrive¡± within higher education.

¡°Talent does not have anything to do with wealth,¡± said Professor Folt, who was particularly pleased, she added, that one of UNC¡¯s new undergraduates was a mother of nine and had gained a place after completing classes at a community college.

Sir Michael Barber, chair of the Office for Students, England¡¯s main higher education regulator from January, added that he saw ¡°diversity and equality going together¡± in higher education.

¡°We have to believe that is our moral starting point,¡± Sir Michael said.

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com