More than one in five prospective Oxford University students have been offered places for next year, new figures show.

In all, 17,243 people applied to the top university and 3,536 have been made offers.

Figures also show that a higher proportion of young people who attended summer schools last year — aimed at attracting students from under-represented backgrounds — were given offers, with four out of every 10 applicants who went to a UNIQ summer school in 2011 offered a place.

Vice-chancellor Prof Andrew Hamilton said: “We are passionately committed to attracting talented students whatever their circumstances.

“The summer schools are a central pillar of our access strategy and we are delighted to see how effective they are.”

According to the university, for the 2011/2012 academic year, of the 7,219 state school applicants, 1,640, about 22.7 per cent, received offers.

Of independent school candidates, 1,191 of the 4,216 applications were successful – about 28.2 per cent.