OXFORD's colleges have rejected plans to deprive them of the final say over which students they should admit.

Proposals outlined last year would have given Oxford's central departments the right to over-ride decisions made by the colleges.

But the 30 colleges which admit undergraduates rejected the proposal, which would have removed the autonomy they have enjoyed for centuries.

Sixth-formers will continue to apply directly to individual colleges and the colleges will decide which candidates will be offered places.

The latest plans, expected to be finalised by the end of June, would see candidates assessed and put into university-wide ability bands within each subject, the Times Higher Education Supplement reported.

This aims to limit what has been dubbed the 'college lottery', in which some bright students cannot find places because they apply to heavily-oversubscribed colleges.

College tutors will be expected to consider the bandings when deciding which applicants deserve to be offered places, the paper said.

Sir Tim Lankester, chairman of Oxford's admissions executive and president of Corpus Christi College, said the colleges would have the final say.

He said: "Key to the document is the commitment that admissions procedures should be informed by three high-level principles: Oxford should attract strong candidates from a diversity of backgrounds, the most able of them should be selected, and selection should not be influenced by college choice."

Oxford academics have also said admissions policies at the top universities should not be adjusted to allow state school pupils in with lower grades.

An article in The Oxford Magazine has found that A-level grades are an accurate indication of the future success of applicants and should continue to be used in the admissions process.

The study by Dr Norman McCrum, emeritus fellow of Hertford College, Dr Clark Brundin and Professor Albert Halsey, emeritus professor of social and administrative studies, challenges earlier research on the matter by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

That research, published in 2003, claimed that state-educated pupils performed better in higher education than those that had been privately educated.

Taking students who started off with the same A-level grades, the study found that a higher proportion of state school graduates got a 2:1 than those from the independent sector.

Dr Brundin, who taught engineering at Oxford and is an Oxford city councillor, said: "We're saying that we can't challenge their study as a whole, but that we cannot say it applied to a single institution and, in particular, it does not apply to Oxbridge."