JEWELS IN THE CROWN: Cardiff University (above) and Christ Church College in Oxford

OXFORD HAS HELD OFF Cambridge for the fourth successive year at the top of the rankings of the UK?s best universities. Heavyweight muscle helped the dark blues to win the boat race this year, but it is Oxford?s spending power that gives it the edge in the league table compiled by The Times Good University Guide 2006.

Cambridge holds a clear intellectual lead, coming top in 25 of the individual subject tables compared with Oxford?s 10. Unlike Oxford, Cambridge also ranks in the Top Ten for overall teaching quality, a listing led by Dundee and York.

Despite narrowing Oxford?s lead this year, however, Cambridge loses out principally in the calculation of spending on facilities and student services. More of Oxford?s money goes through the central university than at Cambridge, where colleges have a bigger share of the spending.

Edinburgh dropped out of the Top Ten for the first time last year, but its rise to fifth means that it dislodges St Andrews as Scotland?s best university. Memo to would-be princesses: Prince William will not be at St Andrews any more. The future monarch may be graduating next month, but applications to Scotland?s oldest university continue to soar. They were up 20 per cent this year to 10,865 compared with just 6,300 in the year before the Prince arrived at the university. Entry requirements have risen in response and candidates are now expected to have the equivalent of three A levels and an AS level at grade A.

Cardiff is top in Wales, 20 places ahead of Swansea, its nearest rival. Both now face the challenge of maintaining their positions without the additional funding from the increased tuition fees that will be available to English universities in 2006.

Warwick remains England?s best provincial university. After its Top Ten showing last year, Loughborough slips to 14th, partly because of a decline in student-staff ratios and a reduction in graduate employment. Bristol returns to the Top Ten after two years outside, in equal place with rivals Durham. After a difficult year, which has included protests over the closure of its chemistry department, Exeter slips three places to 34th.

Northumbria emerges as the UK?s best new university, in 49th place, overtaking the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, even though its overall score is slightly down this year. Oxford first claimed top spot in The Times table from Cambridge in 2002 after nine years of trailing behind its light blue rival. The stranglehold of the two on the top places has tightened. Imperial College, London, was only six points behind Cambridge last year, but the gap has widened to 25 points. The ?big three? are well ahead of other rivals, however, all of which have total scores of less than 900.

If the overall table is dominated by the established universities, its individual components throw up names that are perhaps surprising.

Bradford, 47th overall, is second only to Cambridge for graduate employment. Bangor, only 11 places lower, has the worst record: only 43 per cent go on to graduate-level jobs.

In all, 37 universities have fewer than 60 per cent of their graduates going on to do graduate-level work, a record that will come under increasing scrutiny from students weighing up the cost of their studies against the prospect of paying off their debts.

Napier is top of the drop-out league. Thirty-eight per cent of students fail to complete their courses, far worse than the average of 15 per cent nationally. Bolton, East London and Abertay Dundee are the only other universities with completion rates of less than 70 per cent.

Thames Valley continues to occupy bottom spot, not least because it has by far the lowest research-assessment rating and spends only ?27 a student on facilities. However, its graduate-employment record is better than that of nearly two dozen other institutions.