London, May 2: The rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge, two of Britain's best-known universities, is legendary and now it seems Oxford has pipped its competitor by producing the wealthiest graduates.
According to research by global analysts Wealth-X, Oxford counts 401 ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals among its alumni population with a total net worth of $51 billion and each individual's average net worth around $127 million.
An UHNW individual is classed as having a net worth of at least $30 million after accounting for shares in public and private companies, residential and investment properties, art collections, aircraft, cash and other assets.
According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, just over two-thirds of Oxford's wealthiest alumni are self-made millionaires while 14 per cent have inherited their money, and only 6 per cent of the university's wealthy alumni are women.
Although Cambridge, by comparison, has a smaller number of very rich graduates — 361 — their average net worth is greater at $258 million and their total net worth is almost double at $93 billion.
From Cambridge, 70 per cent of the richest alumni can claim to have forged their own wealth, while 13 per cent have inherited their money.
The average age of ultra wealthy individuals from both Oxford and Cambridge is 59.
Wealth-X researched the wealthiest alumni from 20 British universities and found that the London School of Economics (LSE), Imperial College London and London Business School (LBS) also boasted a high number of rich graduates.
The University of Birmingham had the highest percentage of self-made wealthy alumni at 84 per cent.
The average net worth of Birmingham's rich graduates was $106 million.
The University of Edinburgh had the highest percentage of alumni who had inherited their wealth, at 26 per cent.
Most of the universities that made the wealth stakes cut were from the Russell Group, which represents the UK's top 24 universities.
“Seventeen out of the 24 Russell Group universities are featured in the report, which reflects the ability of such prestigious institutions to attract high calibre individuals, who proceed to create financial success,” said Mike Byrne, European sales director at Wealth-X, in reference to the findings.
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