Liz Truss can protect poorer students and reverse the damage done by George Osborne – but will she?

Twenty years ago, the vast majority of undergraduates at Oxbridge had been privately educated – that figure now stands at around 30 per cent for both, writes Ed Dorrell

The cost of living crisis must seem an insurmountable problem for prospective students (Getty Images)

Last week I stumbled across a lovely documentary on the telly about the history of University Challenge. It was a truly joyful programme about a joyful quiz show. It was also a wonderful reminder of the changing face of our universities and students.

The earliest black-and-white episodes largely featured white men from Oxbridge colleges competing over their knowledge of the classics (our most recent former prime minister would have fitted right in). When the documentary jumped forward several decades, we found the teams infinitely more diverse, from an infinitely greater range of higher education institutions, and the questions infinitely less predictable.

In short, it’s a better programme that reflects a much more dynamic university sector, that recruits from a much, much wider pool of young people. Even the Oxbridge teams are a lot less white, male and posh. So far, so good.