Not Level

I am raising a glass to Durham on another Freshers' Sunday.

The North East has the highest overall A-level pass rate in the country, at 98.5 per cent. This region is also spot on the national average for the proportion of A grades.

The school where I was a pupil and then a governor is a comp in rural County Durham, and it serves a huge catchment area that contains numerous extremely poor communities.

It had an entirely typical 100 per cent pass rate this year.

But at 31.1 per cent, the North East comes bottom in terms of university applications, and it is impossible to admit people if they do not apply.

Moreover, very large numbers seem to prefer to go to university locally and live at home, in order to save on costs.

Now, there is nothing wrong with going to university near to your home. But I went to Durham from Lanchester, and it still took a Parish Council seat and a school governorship to bring me back twice per term during my third year.

Even then, in the days when there were late buses in these parts, I more often than not caught one back into Durham after I had enjoyed some home cooking, so that I was standing at a student bar by the end of the evening. I did not return to Lanchester to sleep.

Tuition fees are having a thoroughly deleterious effect.