Oxford's all-girl St Hilda's to vote on letting in men

Oxford's last bastion of single-sex education, the all-women St Hilda's College, could abandon its century-old tradition of banning men and finally let them in.

On Wednesday, just months since its all-female status was celebrated in the Channel 4 documentary College Girls, St Hilda's will vote on the issue.

Alumni including Gillian Shephard, former education secretary, poet Wendy Cope and the distinguished scientist Baroness Greenfield have rallied to the single-sex cause. So have the college's 400 students, who recently voted by two-thirds in favour of the status quo and staged a sit-in.

But supporters of change believe the college is losing out, and that admitting men – as students and as teachers – would help secure its future.

St Hilda's languishes towards the bottom of the Norrington table, the informal ranking of Oxford colleges by degree result, and takes a more than average number from the "pool" of unplaced candidates rejected by other colleges.

Oxford University faces two major votes this week, with former students around the country turning out to elect a new chancellor. Supporters of single-sex education believe that Wednesday's decision by the 31 fellows of St Hilda's could prove the more significant of the two, arguing that an all-female influence is necessary in a university which is still dominated by men at all senior levels.

But it seems likely that the two-thirds majority required will be achieved. The last vote was in 1997, which was only narrowly defeated.

Cambridge has two single-sex colleges, Newnham and New Hall, but at Oxford, Somerville went mixed in 1994 leaving St Hilda's out on its own.

The vote coincides with the arrival of Lady English as principal and will form the basis of a college-wide restructuring.

Single-sex status affects teaching at the college as well as its admissions policy. Equal opportunities legislation means that it has to fund some of its staff without university assistance.

The campaign to keep St Hilda's single sex has also won the backing of the comedienne Sandi Toksvig, one of four candidates in Thursday's vote for the chancellorship. She is the only candidate who, in public, has declared against top-up fees, and yesterday took part in a city centre protest rally about the charges.

Despite the support of the Oxford University Student Union and its president Will Straw, son of the Foreign Secretary, Ms Toksvig remains a rank outsider. Only graduates are eligible to take part in the election.