Sir Richard Branson remains the number one role model for Students, according to a new report. Not one of the 500 final-year undergraduates surveyed named internet heroes such as Oxford graduate Martha Lane Fox, of lastminute.com, and Mike Lynch of Autonomy, despite the lure of the dot.com goldmine. Students place Microsoft's Bill Gates in second place and inventor James Dyson third.

The report by education and recruitment experts Hobsons, entitled Graduate Recruitment in the New Economy, also revealed that despite admiring Branson, Gates and Dyson, today's undergraduates don't plan to be tomorrow's entrepreneurs.

Nearly half aim to work in blue chip companies since they thought they provide more security and better training, with less than a quarter considering starting up their own business.