The report said that for more selective universities, such as those in the Russell Group who tend to ask for higher A-level grades, mathematics requirements can be a useful filtering tool.
"I think some people who are in mathematics, teaching mathematics in college or are in mathematics professions have a much higher expectation of what those standards would be than someone who is going to go into college in another field ... law, social sciences and so forth, " Wilhoit said in an interview Monday.
There's a debate on a report by the Lords Communications Committee on broadband, and on a Science and Technology Committee report on Higher Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.