It stretched its lead marginally over Cambridge, which had enjoyed an unbroken nine-year run at the top until being overtaken by Oxford in 2002.

The dark blues have now established their dominance over their ancient rivals, although Cambridge retains a considerable lead in the rankings for individual subjects.

Oxford Brookes, ranked 54th, completes an academic double for the city as the highest placed of the “new” universities.

Both of Britain’s oldest universities enjoyed a clear lead over third-placed Imperial College, London, which lagged almost 100 points behind Cambridge in the table.

Oxford’s continued success comes amid intense internal debate about reforms to its system of governance.

John Hood, the Vice-Chancellor, published proposals last week that would give a majority on Oxford’s governing council to people from outside the university for the first time in its 900-year history.

Dons are split over the controversial plans, which will be put to Congregation, Oxford’s “parliament”, this year. A group of “pro-democracy” academics has urged Congregation to reject the reforms, saying that they would end Oxford’s long tradition of self-government.

Meanwhile, Loughborough University, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, has two more reasons to crack open the champagne. Although it is better known for producing champion athletes, it demonstrated its academic prowess by being named England’s top provincial university. It also received the best ratings for student satisfaction.

Alumni of Loughborough include Lord Coe, Paula Radcliffe, Sir Clive Woodward and Dame Tanni Grey Thompson.

Aston University in Birmingham, which is also marking its 40th anniversary, rose from 26th to 13th to join Warwick, Bath and York among the 1960s institutions featured in the league’s top 15.

This year’s rankings are the largest since The Times first published a league table in 1992. It includes nine institutions that were granted university status last year, to bring the total to 109.

The University of Edinburgh is Scotland’s leading representative, and Cardiff is the top university in Wales.

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