The number of pupils getting into Cambridge and Oxford universities could become a factor in determining school league tables under new Government plans to address unequal rates of students entering higher education.

The controversial proposal was yesterday made to local authorities by Department for Education officials, the day after thousands of students found out their A-level results. A spokeswoman later added that league tables may also show the proportion of pupils getting places at elite Russell Group universities.

This is not the first time the Government has outlined plans to reform league tables: last year, an education White Paper proposed adding ‘destination data’ to show how many pupils enter higher education, further training, the workplace or the dole queue after leaving school. However, this is the first time the Government has planned to specify elite universities as part of the reform.

The Department for Education stated that the plan would act as a “powerful tool for accountability and self-improvement”. However, the proposal has been attacked by the Labour Party and by teaching unions as unfair and misleading.

Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham said: “There is a dangerous elitism driving the Government’s education policy. Michael Gove has a plan for some children and some schools, but not all of them. He seems to want to judge an entire school system around the requirements of Oxbridge.”

The announcement comes in the wake of fresh criticism of Oxbridge’s entrance statistics after a report from the Sutton Trust revealed that privately-educated pupils are almost seven times as likely to get into Oxford and Cambridge as applicants from state comprehensives, and are twice as likely to gain a place at one of Britain’s top 30 universities.

The findings also suggested that A-level results alone could not account for the difference in application rates from schools with similar academic records, suggesting pupils from private and grammar schools were more likely to apply than students from many comprehensives.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “We know these stark inequalities in university progression rates are driven primarily by the exam results in schools, yet the data we are publishing ... also reveals that university chances can vary dramatically for schools with similar average grades.”

By highlighting on league tables the proportion of students gaining places at top universities, the Government aims to push more schools to encourage their students to apply. However, doubts have been raised as to whether this is the best way to do so.

Martin Ward, deputy general secretary of the Association of Schools and College Leaders, said: “There is a very great danger it will give very misleading information. A school or college that is working very hard to persuade young people to go [to Oxbridge] could still have much less success than one that is doing very little but has a lot of middle-class pupils who will instinctively want to go to university anyway.”

Lee Elliot Major, head of research at the Sutton Trust, also condemned the plan, saying that it would be “unfair to measure schools by such an extreme measure”.