Universities must also set challenging targets designed to increase the number of students admitted from deprived backgrounds, poor-performing schools and ethnic minority families, it said.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Prof Ebdon said: One of the underlying reasons for the under-representation of ethnic minorities in some highly-selective universities is because they apply for medicine and law both highly competitive courses and a significant amount of that is parental pressure.

Colleagues tell me these students may not always be personally committed to medicine or law as a career but that is the career their parents want for them.

Prof Ebdon, former vice-chancellor of Bedfordshire University, said that the pressure could take a major toll on students.

Deans of medical schools tell me some students face this terrible dilemma of a strong push from their parents but actually they then decide that medicine is not for them.

Last year, Prof Ebdon insisted that schoolchildren should ignore the dreadful snobbery that puts pressure on them to push for places at elite universities.

He said pupils should be encouraged to pursue the most appropriate route into the workplace, including taking up vocational courses and apprenticeships.

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Ethnic minority students 'forced into medicine and law'