| Hundreds of thousands of teenagers living in rural areas may be missing out on degree courses because of the existence of university "cold spots", according to research.
A study by England's Higher Education Funding Council found that school leavers in many areas - including those with large numbers of middle-class families - were failing to move on to university despite achieving good exam grades.
For the first time, researchers linked performance at school with progress towards degree courses identify areas that were sending disproportionally small numbers of pupils into higher education.
The study found cities such as Leeds and Birmingham had large numbers of university places but relatively few local school leavers taking degrees than would be expected given their average GCSE results.
But it emerged that many rural areas, including those in the Home Counties, featured high on a list of academic "cold spots".
In Corringham and Fobbing, Thurrock, Essex, just 25.6 per cent of school leavers went to university over a five-year period. It was 17.7 percentage points lower than the 43.4 per cent who would be expected to go given the academic performance of pupils.
Dorchester East, Dorset, was also high on the list, with just 31.3 per cent of pupils going into higher education - 16.8 percentage points lower than expected.
Other areas sending relatively few pupils to university included the wards of Blackdown in Somerset, Puddletown in Dorset, Ingleton in Durham and Bishopstoke East in Hampshire,
In Box Hill and Headley, Surrey, just 25 per cent of pupils went on to university between 2006 and 2010, which was 14.6 percentage points lower than would be expected given the performance of children at school.
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