Universities and colleges should use private money to provide part-time courses for students from lower socioeconomic groups, say lawyers at the Southampton Institute.

David Bailey, who conducted a study on social inclusion and commercial diversification with Susan Barber, said: "Higher education has to be for everyone if we are to catch up economically. Universities have a moral duty to open their doors.

"Part-time degrees are central to widening participation, and we believe there is a growing market for them. Many institutions are discussing diversification of provision through greater links with local industry and commerce, and this is an opportunity to increase part-time provision."

Two weeks ago, the Higher Education Funding Council for England allocated money for 19,000 extra full-time places and 18,000 extra part-time places (9,000 full-time equivalent) for the coming academic year. However, the allocation has been attacked for failing to realise the potential of part-time education.

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Geoff Peters, pro vice-chancellor of the Open University, said: "There seems to be a remarkable number of places going to full-time when part-time provision is known to enable access."

The OU asked for an extra 2,000 full-time equivalent places but was offered only 1,000. It is telling faculties to scale down the number of extra students they are aiming to recruit.

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Mr Bailey and Ms Barber will present their paper Someone's knocking on the door at the Future Business of Higher Education conference at the University of Oxford next weekend. Analysis, pages 6 and 7, Leader, page 14