DEGREE courses are being offered to students with poor A-level results in Greater Manchester to fill up places, a Manchester Evening News investigation has revealed.

As the new academic year gets under way today, even students with a single D grade A-level are being offered an array of three-year Bachelor of Science degree courses.

The move has been condemned by employers and education experts as an attempt to secure extra government funding at the expense of standards. They say degrees are being offered which are "not worth the paper they are printed on".

Under the current funding structure, universities are paid per student from central government so unfilled places lead to budget shortfalls.

An M.E.N reporter posing as a 19-year-old student with just one biology A-level at grade D was offered a place on three different science courses at the Bolton Institute. When he subsequently said he also had two low grade passes at AS-level - a halfway house between GCSE and A-level - the reporter was offered a further three degree courses. Not all universities take AS-levels into account.

Similarly, Manchester Metropolitan University asked for only two minimal grade E passes to be accepted to study biology and chemistry degrees.

Both establishments have slashed the normal grade boundaries in the clearing process from 160 tariff points - the equivalent of two grade C A-levels. A sole D grade A-level is only worth 60 points. The Bolton Institute was even willing to enrol our reporter on a joint honours maths degree - without even having an A-level in maths.

Education expert Prof Alan Smithers, head of the Education and Employment Centre at Liverpool University, said: "The universities are taking a big risk as a high proportion of students are likely to drop out but they are under pressure as funding is allocated according to the number of places filled."

The universities deny they are enrolling students unlikely to complete degrees. But the Bolton Institute is ranked 8th highest in the English universities dropout table with 37 per cent of students failing to graduate.

The Manchester Metropolitan University is ranked 28th of 121 universities in the dropout table with more than a quarter of new students leaving without a degree.

Ruth Lea, head of policy for the Institute of Directors said: "It is crackers. What kind of degree are they going to come out with when they are starting from such a low level?"

The universities defended their actions. A Bolton Institute spokesperson said: "`The reporter pretending to be a potential student presented himself as having one A-level and two A-S levels which, under government policy points assessment, equates to two A-level grades and is an acceptable entry standard."

A Manchester Metropolitan University spokesperson said: "We are happy with our standards. It is only a minority of our students who come through clearing but entry requirements are dropped as that is the way the system works."