Socially engineering university admissions

The BBC reports that UCAS (University and Colleges Admissions Service) are to let admissions boards see details of an applicant's family...

"[The] form for 2008 entry will ask applicants about their ethnicity and whether they have been in council care."

So, just what exactly do they need details about ethnicity or care status?

The NUS Vice-President assures us the charge of social engineering was "a knee-jerk reaction". And then goes on to say...

"The real bias in higher education is still that non-traditional students, some from care and most of whom have no family history of accessing higher education, are still not properly represented in universities, and especially at the most elite universities."

What exactly are "Non traditional students"? And what would make them "properly represented"? Would that be some social engineering, by any chance? This is exactly what we would expect from the NUS.