MERTON College has retained pole position in Oxford University's league table of exam results.

But Balliol College has slumped from second to 17th in the table, after an unusually high number of low-grade degrees in last summer's finals.

The Norrington Table, which compares the results of 30 undergraduate colleges, also reveals that male students continue to record a higher number of first class degrees than women.

The results were compiled by a student without the official approval from the university after Oxford academics voted to remove college names from results listings.

The top five colleges were Merton, St John's, University, Jesus and Wadham.

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