Scots boys are the only school students to benefit from the diploma devised by Sydney Learning, a wholly owned subsidiary of the university that charges $12,000 for the course, which is typically an alternative pathway to a degree for mature-age students. 'Not a good look': Phillip Heath, national chairman of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. "The suggestion was that Scots students were getting an advantage into one of the premier universities in the country because they were from Scots," Mr Heath said. "That is not something that plays out well for the independent sector. I'm not criticising Scots; I'm just saying how this looks. "That's not what the independent sector stands for. We're not interested in the tag 'elite' or in a special advantage given to anyone's children. It's about choice and culture and connection with the sort of environment parents want, rather than it's going to give you a cast-iron advantage in life."

The university's academic board moved late last month to block the diploma pathway for school-age students, insisting that any diploma graduates aged under 21 will still need the HSC to be accepted into its bachelor courses. The university's governing body, the senate, will address the Scots controversy when it meets on Monday. An alumni-elected fellow of the senate, Andrew West, acknowledges he is only one of its 22 members, but says: "I think this is a pathway of privilege and I think it undercuts the very sincere efforts that the vice-chancellor [Michael Spence] has been making to increase the number of students from disadvantaged and lower socio-economic backgrounds. "I am determined that this will be the last time any school can establish a privileged pathway into the university based on being able to afford the sort of fees that Scots was paying." State Education Minister Adrian Piccoli has also condemned any "unfair advantage" but Scots principal Ian Lambert rejects the perception that the pilot allowed privileged students to buy their way into the university. Dr Lambert says many Scots families are not wealthy and the pilot was aimed at middle-ranking students left behind by the HSC and ATAR ranking systems and who have no access to pathways offered to disadvantaged students.

Mr Heath agrees there are misconceptions about the wealth of private school parents. "The truth is, the median SES [socio-economic status] for independent schools is 104, whereas for the government sector it is 100 … There's not that much difference." But he said: "If there was to be a pilot, it's extremely important for the optics of whole thing to make sure that all sectors had an opportunity to be participants – not just the independents and not just Scots."