Oxbridge colleges, already facing a Cabinet Office investigation over "peculiarities" in their charitable status, are now embroiled in a new row. This time they are accused of defrauding taxpayers by reporting inaccurate figures for the number of their fellows who are counted as "active researchers" in last month’s Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

The issue stems from the fact that as well as University fellows, the colleges appoint fellows too. The medieval universities are alleged to have reported only their good college fellows, excluding those who might have dragged down their league table rating. A spokesman for the University of London, who is heading up an inquiry into the results described a "culture of deception" at Oxbridge, comparing the situation to recent disclosures by the National Audit Office of waiting list fiddles by NHS hospitals.

The University of London is considering whether to make a formal protest to government, and there are indications that it may demand a judicial review of the RAE. League tables can be constructed in many ways, but most consistently show Cambridge as top and Oxford as second or third. According to London University, the true result would see either the London School of Economics or Imperial College as the top institution in the country. It is possible that Oxford might not even make the top five, with UCL (among others) joining the top flight.

In related developments, some leading figures in academia have suggested that the RAE outlived its usefulness, now that more than 1000 UK university departments are officially rated as having achieved "international excellence". Imperial’s own Rector, Sir Richard Sykes has publicly said he "would like to see this being the last RAE of the old style."