Merton College has the best Norrington score at Oxford for the third year running.
Merton's warden, Dame Jessica Rawson, put it down to "a culture of academic excitement and commitment" adding, "while in any one year the Norrington table is not of huge importance, consistent performance over a period of time is significant."
The Norrington table, the University's official list of undergraduate colleges ranked by academic performance, scores colleges according to the classifications of undergraduate degrees awarded that year.
Harris Manchester College, which had managed to climb five places in the preceding year, dropped once again to last place amongst the Oxford undergraduate colleges. The college has been last since the scoring system was made official by the University in 2005.
Magdalen achieved the highest proportion of firsts in its 550-year history, with 43 out of 101 students in the top category. They came third on the list, beaten by a mere 0.26% by St. John's.
The Norrington table is regularly criticised for being a poor ranking system. The small numbers of students per college can result in surprising inconsistency from year to year. Furthermore, unlike Cambridge's Tompkin's Table, it is not adjusted to take account of subjects which offer a higher proportion of first class degrees, such as Mathematics.
Many students don't take the table seriously. One fourth year at Pembroke said, "Of course people look at the Norrington table but I think most people take it with a pinch of salt; academic achievements aren't the only measure of success."
However, since the University made the table official, interest in the annual lists has been intensifying amongst the colleges and in the media.
As Magdalen President, Professor David Clary, admitted, "The Norrington table, for all its faults, is looked at carefully by many dons in Oxford who like to see their college doing well in the table."
Wadham's Warden, Sir Neil Chalmers emphasised that the scoring was not a priority for the college, who ranked 9th on the list. While he considers the Norrington table "useful background information... the reputation we have from students who are here now is more important."
Indeed, there is little evidence the scores have any effect on applicants choosing colleges.
One student applying to Oxford said, "I did notice the Norrington table but I was more interested in the culture of the college and the kinds of people who were there."
Norrington Table Rankings for Academic Year 2008/9:
1. Merton
2. St John's
3. Magdalen
4. Corpus Christi
5. New
6. Hertford
7. University
8. Lincoln
9. Wadham
10. Queen's
11. Trinity
12. Keble
13. Christ Church
14. Balliol
15. Worcester
16. Jesus
17. St Catherine's
18. Exeter
19. Somerville
20. St Anne's
21. Oriel
22. Lady Margaret Hall
23. St Hugh's
24. Pembroke
25. St Peter's
26. Brasenose
27. St Edmund Hall
28. Mansfield
29. St Hilda's
30. Harris Manchester