All who want to go to university should be allowed to do so but no one should pretend that the institutions and courses they choose are equal, the Shadow Education Minister Boris Johnson said this week, writes Claire Sanders.
In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Johnson confirmed the Conservatives' commitment to expanding higher education.
Addressing the Tory think-tank Politeia, he said: "It is high time we Conservatives mounted a thoroughgoing defence of higher education, its students and teachers, and the benefits it can bring."
He said that the Conservative Party of the past had been wrong to try to restrict access to higher education. Referring to Hardy's novel Jude the Obscure , where Jude was famously turned away from "Christminster" and told to stick to stonemasonry, Mr Johnson said: "There are still plenty of Judes out there in obscurity."
But he added: "We are deceiving ourselves if we pretend that all universities are equal and all courses equal." He said that the best way to encourage excellence was to get the funding right and then let students and institutions "do the rest".
The Times Higher reported last week that the Conservatives were to review their higher education policy, covering funding, diversity and expansion.
In his speech, Mr Johnson called for improved higher education funding but declined to say if it meant lifting the £3,000 cap on fees.