Brightest pupils 'pushed towards Russell Group universities' Nick Gibb, the Schools Minister, said: "This is an opportunity for schools to celebrate success, and to develop and reward high performing pupils. Teachers may decide to choose pupils who might not be at the top of the class but who have outstanding potential to become high achievers. These could include children whose families may traditionally not have gone to higher education. They may wrongly assume that university is something "other people" do." Today, the Government was due to launch a new national award scheme to recognise the top pupils in each school. Schools will be encouraged to nominate one Year 9 pupil - a 13 or 14-year-old - as their "Dux," which is Latin for leader or champion. The winning pupils will be rewarded with a visit to one of the leading Russell Group universities, representing 24 of the UK's most prestigious higher education institutions. A similar awards scheme already exists in Scotland, as well as Australia, New Zealand and the US. The move comes amid growing controversy over the proportion of poor pupils admitted to top universities. Earlier this year, Prof Les Ebdon, the incoming head of the Office for Fair Access, said Russell Group universities had a "mixed" record on taking in deprived students. Each institution is now being forced to set tough targets designed to increase the number of candidates admitted from state schools, poor backgrounds or postcodes with a poor record of going on to higher education. But the Russell Group, which represents Oxford, Cambridge and University College London, has opposed the move, saying too many poor pupils are failed at school and often do not have the grades needed to win a place. Wendy Piatt, director general of group, said: "Too few pupils from some state schools get the right grades in the right subjects to apply to leading universities. But there is also evidence that, even with good grades, state school students are much less likely to apply to top universities than those at equivalent independent schools. We hope this scheme will help raise the aspirations not only of Dux winners but all other bright teenagers at their schools and make sure they are thinking about their options at a younger age. We are delighted to be offering bright prospective students the opportunity to come and meet our students and lecturers and have taster sessions.