Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan has hit back at the country's most prestigious universities amid an increasingly ugly stoush over funding, accusing them of neglecting research that would benefit regional and remote students.

The Australian Research Council, which funds $750 million worth of academic research a year, could not identify a single project it has funded since its inception in 2001 involving research on how to improve tertiary education attainment in the regions.

Education Minister Dan Tehan said the universities' lack of interest in regional attainment was "quite extraordinary". Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"There do not appear to be any specific projects directly related from keyword searches of our grants database since the ARC has existed," the council said in a statement to Fairfax Media.

In comments directed chiefly at the Group of Eight universities, Mr Tehan slammed the major universities for failing to undertake research that would help bridge the "major discrepancy" between tertiary attainment in the capital cities and the bush.