The controversy about Oxbridge applications is back in the news. Applications to Clare College, Cambridge, from pupils in state schools have increased from 56 per cent to 65 per cent.

The increase is believed to have been influenced by interviews in the Independent newspaper last year, where admissions staff at Clare College explained that allowance was made to pupils from certain schools seen as socially or educationally disadvantaged.

Independent schools have accused the college of operating a system of "positive discrimination".

Compiled from international sources by Janet Stafford