The share of British university students coming from the poorest families has fallen dramatically since the introduction of tuition fees, concludes a new study prepared by the U.K. Department for Education and Skills.

The research, by Steve Machin, one of the most senior advisors in the education department and professor of economics at University College London, compares participation in higher education by social class in the 1990s. It finds that in 1991-1992, 13 per cent of children from the lowest social class attended university. By the end of the decade, following the introduction of tuition fees and the abolition of student grants by the Blair government, this figure dropped to 7 per cent.

"It is clear that educational inequality - the link between family income and post-16 education - has tended to rise in recent years," the report says. "Even the sharp expansion of university participation of the 1990s did not benefit poorer children."

At the same time as participation rates of students from poorer households plummeted, the share of university students from higher social classes rose from 55 per cent to 72 per cent.

The report concludes that less able students from affluent backgrounds are making gains at the expense of brighter students from lower-income families.

"It seems inevitable that this will result in higher ability children from poor backgrounds missing out, and lower ability children from rich backgrounds getting lucky," says Machin in the report.

The report is also critical of plans by Education Secretary Charles Clarke to introduce £3,000 top-up fees, concluding it will reinforce the rigid class divisions in Britain's education system.