Colchester has been branded an education "cold-spot" by a Government-backed report.

Students from the borough are less likely to go to university than those from almost anywhere else in the region, a study revealed yesterday (Monday).

The study based at Anglia Polytechnic University dubbed the borough a "cold spot" - showing just 2.7 per cent of people aged between 18 and 25 in Colchester won places at university.

But the results attracted heavy criticism from education chiefs who claim Colchester has the finest facilities for sixth formers in the country.

Of the 34 districts and boroughs studied across Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, Colchester was in the bottom three.

The research shows figures for years 1997/1998, and does not include students doing HNCs or HNDs.

The town's poorest performing ward was Shrub End, where just 11 out of 1,300 youngsters got places at university, the project claimed.

Berechurch, New Town, St Andrew's and St Anne's also performed poorly, with less than two per cent of people between 18 and 25 reaching university.

This compares with a national average of 5.35 per cent.

The best performing Colchester ward was Winstree, with five per cent gaining places.

APU's Robert Fox said the study challenged the widely held belief that university towns had a higher than average number of young people setting off to university.

He said there was a "garrison effect" in Colchester, which lowered the figures because of soldiers aged between 18 and 25, but he said even if there was no garrison in Colchester, it would still be a "cold spot" and in the bottom eight districts.

Professor Chris Green, director of APU's regional office, said: "We are not out to rubbish the work of colleges. What we are there to do is to clarify what is going on."

He added that while there would be many who would not like the study's findings, the importance of the survey was to aid projects aimed at getting more pupils into university, and widening people's choices.

One of the projects being considered was getting 13-year-olds and their parents to have a look at universities and foster a general higher education awareness.

Teresa Fox, head of careers at Colchester County High School for Girls, said: "I am amazed at these statistics, especially as the town has the finest range of sixth form institutions."

She said 99 per cent of her sixth form pupils went on to university, and those who did not had chosen not to.

Ian MacNaughton, principal of Colchester Sixth Form College, said more than 90 per cent of the college's pupils went on to university, some of them after a gap year.

He said he felt the seven-year group span meant the achievements of the town's 18-year-olds, who had completed their A-levels, was not fairly represented.

Colchester MP Bob Russell said Colchester had some outstanding schools.

He said: "We must not assume that only those who go to university have a worth in society. All young people have a worth to society, and there are many other avenues in life other than university which can be taken.

"This survey continues a stereo-typing view that academic ability is all that matters."

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