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Applications for autumn courses at Oxford and Cambridge universities are up 4.3 per cent on last year, indicating a recovery after the introduction of top-up fees.

Figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show that nearly 28,000 students applied to Oxford and Cambridge.

Last year, Oxbridge applications rose by 0.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, applications for medicine across the UK are down 2.89 per cent compared with last year, while those for dentistry have increased by almost 7 per cent.