A PIONEERING scheme to teach pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds qualifications at university rather than school has been saved from the axe.

The future of the £400,000 project at Glasgow Caledonian University was in doubt after Glasgow City Council decided to review its £150,000 funding as part of wider budget cuts.

The controversial move came just months after pupils from the scheme recorded record pass rates of 90 per cent compared to a national average of 81 per cent.

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However, officials said funding has been secured for another two years in a new partnership between the university, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the council.

Under the deal the SFC will provide £175,000 a year which has been matched by the city council. An additional £50,000 will be provided by the university.

The hub was set up to help pupils from schools in deprived areas access Advanced Highers they would not otherwise have got the chance to study.

Professor Pamela Gillies, the university principal, said: “I am delighted by the continuation of our Advanced Higher Hub. This initiative is an excellent example of the university delivering on our mission as we seek to provide educational opportunities for everyone in our society.”

Bailie Liz Cameron, the council's education spokeswoman, added: "We welcome the decision from the funding council to join with us in continuing funding of the hub for two more years which enables us to continue to increase the numbers of the city’s young people going to higher education when they leave school."

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John Kemp, interim chief executive of the SFC, said he was delighted to continue the organisation's involvement with the scheme.

He said: "The hub has been hugely successful in helping pupils to study the subjects needed to progress to university and it is an excellent example of working together to widen access to education."

Under the scheme, pupils travel from school to the university to study courses - with those that do well allowed onto degree courses as part of moves to widen access.

The initiative was developed amidst growing concern over the availability of Advanced Highers.

The qualifications are increasingly seen as the best preparation for university and add considerable weight to a higher education application, but access to them can be limited in schools where few pupils want to take them.

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That means pupils in middle-class areas or private schools can have a full range to choose from compared to pupils in more deprived areas.

As part of a review of its finances last year Glasgow City Council said financial constraints had forced officials to look at other ways of delivering Advanced Highers - including more localised hubs.

One of the options under consideration was the idea that pupils could attend classes after school to give enough time for pupils to travel from surrounding areas to fill a classroom.

However, Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) union, said the idea of teachers working after the school day was "fantastical".