However, a study of Britain's New Deal policies by Duncan McVicar of Queen's University, Belfast, and Jan Podivinsky of the University of Southampton reaches the opposite conclusion.

ECONOMIST: The crunch may entrench unemployment

The changes mostly affect Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster.

BBC: PGCE places cut by 20% in Northern Ireland universities

He said it could create the incorrect impression that there were "cold houses" for Protestants at Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster.

BBC: Disparity in community background at universities