One year after the introduction of annual top-up fees of £3,070, demand for university places is stronger than ever with nearly half a million applicants for entry next month. Despite the costs, the financial returns of gaining a degree continue to rise too, so that the average graduate can now expect to earn £160,000 more over their working life than non-graduates with two A levels.

But the rewards are extremely variable. The lifetime earnings premium for medical graduates is £340,315, compared with just £34,494 for those with an arts degree. This, coupled with the growing expectations that the £3,070 cap on tuition fees will be lifted after a review in 2009, means that a degree by itself will no longer be a guarantee of much greater wealth and career success. Your subject choice and the reputation of your university will count more heavily in future than they did.

The Times Good University Guide and Clearing Special offers a wealth of essential information about university and subject choice as well as advice on student life. It is the most authoritative guide to universities in the UK and is an essential and comprehensive tool for students and parents. A fuller version is published today at www.timesonline.co.uk

The guide allows students and parents to create their own individual university rankings and to compare the strengths and weaknesses of different institutions by sorting universities according to one of eight criteria, from student satisfaction to research quality and degree results.

It is being published to coincide with the start of the university clearing process for admission in 2007 and as A-level students receive their results. It will also help students in the autumn as they start to make their university choices for entry in 2008.

For those applying for places for next year, the number of choices allowed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) will fall from six to five, so narrowing down subject and institution choices will be that much more important.

The guide shows that the gap between Oxford and Cambridge is at the smallest since the league tables were first published 15 years ago. Oxford remains at the top of the table for the sixth consecutive year. But the margin between the two academic powerhouses has narrowed to just five points out of a possible of 1,000, the closest it has been since 1993, when they tied.

Cambridge dominates the guide’s 32 subject tables, which reflects the fact that it has the highest average entry qualifications for students. Oxford’s grip on the top spot is helped by higher spending on library and computing facilities and a larger proportion of students awarded at least a 2:1 degree. Universities showing substantial rises this year include King’s College, London, which enters the Top Ten at number ten, Exeter, which enters the Top 20 for the first time at number 17 and City University, which is up 17 places to joint 40th. The University of St Andrews has gone up 13 places in the rankings, overtaking Edinburgh to become the top university in Scotland and breaking into the Top Five.

Among the generation of new universities, Oxford Brookes leads the way, breaking into the Top 50 at number 49 and finishing ahead of several traditional universities. This year’s The Times Good University Guide has added four new universities since last year: Cumbria, Edge Hill, York St John and Queen Maragaret in Edinburgh.

Some famous names are excluded from the table because they offer only postgraduate courses (eg the London Business School and the Manchester Business School) or are for part-time students (The Open University and Birkbeck College, London). The University of Buckingham is not included because, as a private university, it does not have some of the statistics used to compare the rest.

Most students receiving their A- level results today will have done enough to claim places at one of their two preferred universities. Many of the remainder will find places via the clearing system, designed to match available vacancies with students who did not gain the grades they needed for one of their preferred universities.

Although clearing becomes less significant with each year as grades improve and more achieve their preferred choice, it still accounted for about 10 per cent of admissions last summer. Students should think twice, however, about reaching for the phone and opting for the first clearing university that will take them.

Not only are the highest drop-out rates often among those who have gone to university via clearing, but failing to complete a course also comes at a cost. Even if you are able to switch university after a year, or complete a three-year degree in another course at the same institution, you will still be charged in full for that redundant year. Banks already estimate debts will rise to £30,000 by 2009, so there is no point in adding to them unnecessarily.

One way to make sure of what you want to do is to take a gap year. Universities and employers support gap years, believing that students who have had one arrive better prepared for undergraduate life. Not only have they had to fend for themselves by cooking and doing their own washing — they have also had a rest from the endless cycle of exams.

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