The British government is considering a new rule that could prevent thousands of students in England from receiving loans to attend university.
Under the proposal, students may be required to have a passing grade in GCSE English before they can qualify for government-backed tuition and living-cost loans from the Student Loans Company.
GCSEs are qualifications usually taken by pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland at about the age of 16. The proposed English-language requirement would effectively become a national minimum entry standard for students who depend on government loans to fund their university education.
The plan could affect more than 30,000 home students who enter full-time undergraduate programmes each year without recorded formal qualifications such as GCSEs, A-levels or recognised equivalents.
Critics fear the measure would hit students from low-income families and non-traditional educational backgrounds hardest. Mature students returning to education, people who studied outside Britain and those who struggled in the school system could also be affected.
Universities that admit large numbers of students without conventional qualifications could suffer serious financial losses if the proposal is approved.
Some of the affected students study at colleges or private institutions through franchise agreements with universities. Under such arrangements, the university approves and oversees the course while another institution delivers the teaching.
Rachel Hewitt, chief executive of MillionPlus, which represents many modern universities, questioned why the government wanted to impose an additional national requirement.
She said universities were independent institutions and already had systems for deciding whether applicants were capable of completing their chosen courses.
According to Hewitt, universities also assess whether students have the English-language ability needed to study successfully.
She warned that a national GCSE English requirement could block mature students who want to return to education to learn new skills or improve their employment prospects.
“Universities already have their own checks to ensure learners can meet English language requirements on their courses and will not take on students they are not confident can succeed,” she said.
Hewitt argued that mature learners were among the people the government should be encouraging to retrain and develop new skills.
Libby Hackett, chief executive of the Russell Group, which represents leading research universities in Britain, said the organisation supported a national minimum entry requirement in principle.
She said minimum standards already existed for A-levels, apprenticeships, many further education courses and most university programmes.
Hackett argued that a national threshold could help protect students and taxpayers because university education is funded through a combination of graduate repayments and public support.
However, she said any new system must allow trusted universities to recognise other qualifications and routes into higher education.
This flexibility, she added, would be particularly important for mature students and applicants from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented at universities.
Official figures show that more than 33,000 domestic students who started full-time first-degree courses in the 2024-25 academic year had no formal qualifications recorded.
This represented about one in every 15 new students.
Some universities, including Bath Spa University and Leeds Trinity University, admitted more than half of their domestic students without formal qualifications listed by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
In many cases, the students were studying through franchise partnerships with private or local colleges.
The proposal is reportedly being presented within the government as an English-language requirement similar to rules already applied to international students.
However, because students who fail to meet the standard could lose access to tuition and maintenance loans, the policy would also act as an admission barrier. Many students would be unable to attend university without financial support from the Student Loans Company.