Universities could be punished unless they give a higher proportion of top degrees to black students, under new proposals drawn up by the regulator.

The Office for Students (OfS) has announced plans to overhaul its guidelines for boosting diversity in higher education, in what it says is the “biggest shake up” since 2004.

If institutions fail to comply with the regulator’s new “tougher” national targets for increasing the number of disadvantaged students, they could be penalised through a fine or even de-registered.

Chris Millward, the OfS director for fair access and participation, said that universities will no longer be able to “mark their own homework” on their plans to up their intake of 18-year-olds from poor backgrounds.

Instead, the new regulator, which came into force earlier this year, plans to set a series of national targets that all universities will be expected to meet.

These will not be limited to targets for admitting more school leavers from deprived households, but will also include addressing the gap in degree attainment between black and white students, according to OfS proposals.

There has been an almost 50 per cent increase in the number of black and ethnic minority students in England between 2007 and 2016.