Once accused of smudging the ivory tower, Lucy Aitkens is now busy rebuilding it. The former Oxford Union president has launched an Internet recruitment firm exclusively for Oxbridge graduates.

"We're not elitists, we're realists," the controversial St Hilda's student declares. "The ancient universities are the pinnacle of the education system. They continue to produce the finest quality employees.

"You have to be well-qualified to get in, then endure three or four years of rigorous training."

Lucy hasn't always championed the academic elite, however. As Union president, she invited football players and pop stars and much criticism. She of 'dumbing down' is that Oxford and Cambridge are so respected. That's why this site will take off. Anyway, dumb isn't even a verb, so I really don't rate people who say that."

She is the only student among the ten founders, having deferred her human science genetics studies for a year.

The start-up is funded by recruitment agency DLA.

Lucy says: "They gave us 1m and we gave them a 25 per cent stake. We've got an amazing office in Covent Garden, computers, support staff like accountants and secretaries." Oxbridgejobs.com launched this week, offering students 24-hour access to a personal consultant and candid advice.

The experience is similar, she confesses, to captaining the Union. "There's less internal stress and less glamour," she reflects, "the same amount of exciting people, just not so famous. And I'm getting paid for it!"

So well, in fact, that her student loans will be a thing of the past. Lucy plans to live in style during her final year at Oxford. But the company isn't all about the bottom line, as Oxbridge life proves.

"This is something I'm giving back to my friends. Eighty per cent of them are still confused about where they're going."