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Children from well-to-do families are four times more likely to attend university than those from lower socioeconomic groups.

The Hong Kong Institute of Education said yesterday that the disparity is widening despite increases in the number of publicly funded university places.

Its researchers also said the gap is too wide to be acceptable and there needs to be policies to give better opportunities to children from poorer families to gain university education.

Researchers found that 48.2 percent of children from families in the top 10 percent of the income group attended university compared with only 13 percent of those from families below the median income level.

Associate head of Asian and policy studies Chou Kee-lee said he analyzed data collected during the population census in 1991 and 2011 to assess the trend in education inequality.

The statistical sample represents around 5 percent of the total population.

Chou said the disparity has widened over the years and in 2011 the proportion of rich students in universities was 3.7 times more than that of the poor, compared to 1.2 times in 1991.

"This has happened because the resources allocated to help those who are poor are inadequate," he said.

"The government believes that as long as the economy improves and the number of university places increases, more people will benefit. However, they do not realize that the rich will reap much more benefits than the poor."

The study also found that young people who have highly educated fathers, live in self-owned residential properties or who grow up in normal family environments have much higher rates of university attendance than those who do not.

"Those with less-educated parents, only one breadwinner in the family or who cannot afford private flats have lesser financial resources to devote to their child's education," Chou said.

Parents who are well schooled are also much better prepared on how to give their child better educational opportunities.

Chou believes that the gap in education inequality will become worse due to the conversion of many popular schools into direct subsidy schools as this will raise their entry threshold and create a class of "noble schools" that can "hinder the social upward mobility" of the poor.

Chou suggested that the government provide more scholarships or adequate tuition-reduction schemes.