OXBRIDGE colleges will continue to deter working-class students unless they drop their “intimidating and complex” admissions procedures, a new report warned yesterday.

The Sutton Trust called for Oxford and Cambridge universities to ditch the variation between different colleges’ systems and to review interview practices “to ensure they are fair and useful.”

It also demanded a “benchmark threshold” for admitting students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Oxbridge’s vastly disproportionate intake from private schools has long been the subject of scrutiny.

In 2014 both universities hailed “improvement,” but 44 per cent of Oxbridge admissions were still from private schools, with the Cambridge figure slightly lower at 38 per cent.

Figures for state school admissions include selective grammar and faith schools.

Cambridge University announced a new set of university-wide admissions tests on Tuesday to cope with the end of the standard one-year AS-level, which had helped universities make offers since their introduction in 2002.

But campaigners immediately pointed out that rich pupils would breeze through such tests, being able to afford private tutors.

At David Cameron’s old Oxford college of Brasenose, just 11 per cent of state school students who applied were offered places, compared with 30 per cent at St Peter’s and Somerville colleges.

“We believe that the universities rather than the colleges should control the admissions policies and interviews,” said Sutton Trust chief Peter Lampl.

“Our surveys and experience suggest that many bright state school students are put off by the application process which is both intimidating and complex.”

Lorna Finlayson, a former fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, has proposed that the universities could open colleges from which private school students would be excluded.