Oxford to cut places for British students

Oxford University is to slash places for British students and replace them with lucrative foreigners in a bid to tackle a £20million annual loss on running costs.

The university plans to cut 10 per cent of places for homegrown students and reduce one-to-one tutorials in favour of cheaper seminars and group work.

But it has rejected calls to go private and charge fees at the same level as US Ivy League universities, for now, at least.

The plans are in a strategy paper circulated among academics. It said: "The available evidence suggests that if radical measures are not taken, Oxford's standing will decline," according to The Times.

Oxford, like other universities, is bidding to raise top-up fees to the new £3,000 maximum next year. But they have warned the higher limit will not bring them enough money to compete worldwide.

Oxford will cut about 1,600 places for British students and launch a drive to raise the proportion from outside the EU from eight per cent to 15 per cent over a decade. The strategy paper said undergraduates cost £18,600 a year to teach but the university only received £9,500.