Good marks at Oxford go to wealthy colleges

St John's, Oxford University's second richest college, tops this year's table of the university's final examination results, maintaining its place among the leaders over the past six years.

Last year's winner, Jesus College, falls to tenth place, beaten by Corpus Christi, which leapt 20 places to come fourth after a disappointing performance last year.

Former women's colleges have done slightly better than in 1998 but remain grouped in the lower half of the table. St Peter's, one of the poorest colleges, comes last but one, after Harris Manchester, which specialises in taking mature students.

John Barron, master of St Peter's, said: "Obviously it is disappointing to be as far down as that, but it does go up and down." He said there was a relationship between college wealth and performance. "It is not a very perfect or direct relationship, but it is the case that St John's is one of the most prosperous colleges and it is usually near the top of the table."

Latest published figures show that St John's 1997-98 income was Pounds 6.9 million, just below that of Christ Church - 12th in this year's Norrington table - with an income of Pounds 7.1 million. St Peter's income was Pounds 2.8 million.

A recent report on Oxford governance, compiled by former Oxford vice chancellor Peter North, recommended that the system of distributing a proportion of wealth from richer to poorer colleges should be extended. More emphasis was given to the idea in the government's recent review of the Oxbridge college fee, which gives an extra Pounds 35 million of public money to Oxbridge colleges.

Draft regulations on the change in the amount of money going from rich to poor are expected this academic year and are likely to double the amount available for redistribution in Oxford.

The 1999 Norrington table, which compares the results of Oxford's 30 undergraduate colleges, was compiled unofficially by Charles Pelling, who is studying classics at Brasenose College.

Ranking colleges started nearly 40 years ago, at the suggestion of Sir Arthur Norrington, then president of Trinity. Controversy over the table grew so strong by 1992 that the university stopped publishing college names next to students' results. This decision was reversed two years ago after students managed to compile the tables anyway.

The ranking is compiled by allocating five points for a first, three for a 2:1, two for a 2:2 and 1 for

a third. High risers were Trinity, which climbed from 25th to eighth place, and Hertford, a relatively poor college, which jumped from 23rd to ninth.