Newcastle University says it is exceeding Federal Government benchmarks for the amount of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

As part of the Government's overhaul of higher education, it wants 20 per cent of students attending universities to be from disadvantaged backgrounds by 2020.

The overhaul is aimed at making higher education more accessible and increasing the number of people who have a Bachelors degree.

Newcastle vice-chancellor Professor Nick Saunders says 30 per cent of students at the university are from a low socioeconomic background.

"The national average is 15 per cent, the Government target is 20 per cent, so we're well exceeding the Government's target," he said.

"We're doing very well in that space and it's not just an accident of geography, we've been actively out there promoting engagement between schools and the university."