Bang went Lehman Brothers and bang, too — possibly — went the sponsorship money for the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity Rugby Match, officially called the Lehman Brothers Varsity Match, and scheduled to be played at Twickenham on December 11.

Treasurer of the University Rugby Club Tim Jones said: "I can't tell you exactly how much the sponsorship deal is worth. But I can say that it is a four-year arrangement and that we have received the money for 2007 but not yet for this year."

He added: "It's too early to say what will happen to the money in the light of Lehman's collapse, but the match will certainly go ahead whatever happens."

And club secretary Steven Hill agreed: "We were never reliant on that money."

But could this sporting hicough mirror the exposure of Oxford University as a whole to fall-out from the present stock market turmoil? After all, the colleges between them have about £2.7bn in endowment funds and the university has another £900m under management — much of it invested in equities. So that question must surely be excercising the minds of academics and bursars in senior common rooms across the city.

Over the past couple of years, the university and some of the colleges have changed their investment tactics. Their aim is to achieve the sort of double-digit returns seen by top American universities, using such specialist vehicles as hedge funds and private equity.

With that object in mind, the university last year set up Oxford University Asset Management (OUAM) under the chairmanship of City analyst Richard Oldfield — chief executive of investment management company Oldfield Partners. His committee, in turn, appointed Sandra Robertson — previously co-head of portfolio management at the Wellcome Trust — as chief investment officer, with premises in Worcester Street, Oxford, and a staff of four (and currently recruiting).

And a year before the advent of OUAM, five colleges — St Catherine's, Balliol, Christ Church, New College,and Oxford's richest college, St John's — established Oxford Investment Partners (OXIP) under the auspices of analysts Karl Sternberg and Paul Berryman to perform much the same task on their behalf. OXIP, with assets of about £230m, is chaired by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson, with operations under the management of former Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Martin, 35. It has an office in Christ Church and employs eight staff.

So, back to the question, how are all those endowment funds faring in these turbulent times?

Richard Oldfield would say only: "I don't particularly want to give you a whole portfolio report, but like all investors we are exposed to the equity market — though now not as highly as historically.

"This has really been something of a year of transition since Sandra Robertson was appointed." He added that tax breaks for investors in the UK were less good than for those available in the US. Nevertheless, in June this year Michael Moritz and Harriet Heyman donated £25m to Christ Church on condition that the college transferred an additional £75m of its existing endowment to OUAM. Mr Moritz, a former Christ Church undergraduate, is a partner at Sequoia Capital, a California-based venture capital firm.

Over at Oxford Investment Partners, Paul Martin was more talkative. He said: "Our aim is to produce equity-like returns but with reduced volatility. In 2007, we produced a nine per cent return after fees. And this year we are less volatile than the FTSE all-share index.

"In the eight quarters in which we have been in existence, we have produced a positive return in seven, compared to only five by the FTSE all-share index.

"Now we have a bigger-than-usual cash pile. We have taken a defensive position to protect capital. Obviously there is pain out there in Oxford, but we feel that, though we might take on water, the port holes are firmly locked and we shall weather the storm."

No one dares hope yet that the storm is over. Forecasters at Oxford Economics predicted that another 20,000 UK financial services jobs, some very highly paid compared to those of academics, will be lost in the next year or so — not including the jobs going at HBOS/Lloyds.

Little wonder, therefore, that Paul Martin enjoys his job in the lovely setting of Christ Church, far away from the frenzied, hothouse atmosphere of the City of London.

But will Oxford find itself even more cash-strapped than usual?

Mr Oldfield told The Oxford Times last year, at the founding of OUAM: "I am sure that setting up an in-house investment office is the right move."

Back at the Rugby Club, officials are still unsure exactly what effect the Lehman collapse will have on them. Now we can only wait and see what effect the credit crunch storm will have on Oxford's finances as a whole.