Universities are going to test "name-blind" admissions for the first time to stop potential discrimination based on assumptions about students' names.
Exeter, Huddersfield, Liverpool and Winchester will pilot a system this year where the names of applicants are not seen during admissions. The aim is to stop "potential bias" about students' race and identity.
Universities Minister Jo Johnson said he backed attempts to "stamp out inequality" in higher education.
The pilot project aims to see if masking the names of applicants will remove any "unconscious bias".
Without identifying names, applications would be considered without knowing the gender of students or any indications of their ethnic background or religion.
The admissions process would use any relevant contextual information about a student - such as whether they were from a low-income family - but the name would be concealed.
Last year, former Prime Minister David Cameron said universities should use name-blind recruitment as a way of promoting social mobility and preventing bias against minorities.
The pilot study will find out how this might be implemented more widely, such as whether the name of the applicant should be known before a decision is taken to offer them a place.
