Moves by a university to reduce entry requirements for teenagers from deprived inner city areas will not be followed by Oxford's two top centres of higher education.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne University is offering places to students with A-levels as much as three grades lower than usual provided they attend a two-week summer school. The scheme will mean some school pupils will have to achieve higher grades than others for the same degree courses because they live in a less deprived area. The move is an attempt to dispel the image of elitism surrounding Britain's top universities which erupted last month over the case of Laura Spence. The Tyneside comprehensive student was awarded a scholarship to Harvard but rejected by Magdalen College, Oxford.

But the idea was rejected by the city's two universities.

An Oxford University spokesman said: "Each candidate is assessed as an individual on their potential, not on their postcode."

An Oxford Brookes University spokesman said: "We have no plans to drop grades for applicants. However we are putting a considerable amount of effort into widening access to the university."