Leading universities are planning to lower entry requirements for more working-class applicants — despite figures showing they are less likely to finish their studies or get first-class degrees.

The move comes as several student unions, including Manchester and SOAS in London, prepare to appoint “class liberation” officers to represent undergraduates who feel out of place and unsupported at campuses still dominated by the privately educated and middle classes.

Exeter University is drawing up plans to make offers of up to two A-level grades lower than those made to more affluent candidates. The concession, aimed at boosting the numbers of working-class white boys in particular, will be given to applicants from areas of the country where few schoolchildren go on to higher education.

The university already