More women than men are now winning places to study at Oxford, new Ucas figures show, amid a diversity drive by the university.

This academic year Oxford made more offers to female school-leavers than their male peers for the first time since 2010, when Ucas started analysing data on university applications.

Women are also now more likely to receive offers to study at the university.

It comes as Oxford launches a raft a measures to make the university more accommodating for women, including giving students longer to complete exams in an effort to help female students achieve higher grades.

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said more Oxford offers going to women was in part due to the Office for Fair Access (Offa) “breathing down their necks to make sure their entry processes are fairer”.

Under the current fees system, any English university wishing to charge tuition fees of over around £6,000 must have an access agreement approved by Offa. This sets out what the university intends to do to recruit and retain youngsters who would not normally study for a degree.

Encouraging more women to apply to Oxford for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects is part of the university’s drive to improve access.