Two gay Oxford students were the victims of homophobic abuse at The Cellar nightclub on Thursday 26^th February, after they were seen kissing on the dance floor.

Both students have requested to be identified solely by their first name.

Sacha, one of the victimised students, explained to Cherwell, “I was dancing on the main dance floor, and then me and this guy went to the other room, where there are a few tables and seats. We sat in a corner by a table and started kissing.

“A man, who was roughly forty five years old, tapped me on the shoulder. From the minute I got tapped on the shoulder, I knew it was going to be something homophobic. I was expecting it in a way.”

The man reportedly said to Sacha, “What the fuck are you doing?”, to which Sacha replied, “I’m kissing.” The man then told Sacha and Josh, the other student involved, that “This is not a gay club”, prompting the two students to stand up.

Sacha explained that at this point, “I just saw that it [the conversation] would degenerate, so I went to the bar and looked helplessly at the guy standing behind the bar. Then a strong, muscular man joined in. He was much more aggressive than the other man; he was shouting insults at us and threatened to punch us. My friend didn’t want to back down. We weren’t going to let this go.”

The man who had been shouting homophobic insults at the gay couple then purportedly head-butted Josh. Sacha elucidated, “He just went for him. It wasn’t strong enough to make him bleed or break his nose or anything, but he went flying back, and we were both in shock afterwards.

“You don’t really realise to what extent something is shocking or intolerable until the next morning – we tried to carry on as if everything was normal. We went back to the main room, and started dancing. We kissed again, and this is when we were approached by a bouncer, who asked us to leave.”

Allegedly, the bouncer asked the students to leave as they had been kissing in the middle of the club. Sacha recounted to Cherwell how the bouncer said to him and Josh, “I’m not looking for trouble, but you might make some people angry. You’re provoking other people.”

However, Tim Hopkins, the Venue Manager at The Cellar, denied that the couple were asked to leave, saying, “The students said they would leave anyway. The Cellar is a forward thinking place, we’re not homophobic. This was probably a bit of a misunderstanding. The bouncers did chuck out someone who was uncomfortable with the two guys kissing.

“People can kiss in The Cellar. Our policy on kissing is that it’s absolutely fine, but we tell people to hold it down if it’s any more than kissing. If you’re gay and you want to kiss in The Cellar, you can. It’s a case by case situation – if there’s a heterosexual couple in the corner, and it gets a bit frisky, we’ll ask them to calm down a bit.”

Hopkins reiterated, “We wouldn’t kick out some gay people for kissing in The Cellar. We’re a friendly music venue that embraces all walks of life and cultures and whatever. We don’t discriminate at The Cellar.”

After leaving the nightclub, Sacha told Cherwell, “I was so fuming, looking for someone to complain to. I wanted to go back in.” However, the bouncers refused Sacha entry. Sacha continued, “I must have looked too angry or violent or gay or whatever.”

Describing his anger at the bouncer’s treatment of him and his friend, Sacha said, “It was absolutely insane. The Cellar is probably one of the most promiscuous, incestuous places in Oxford.” He further added that he had believed the nightclub to be, “Alternative and open-minded”.

Former Merton LGBTQ rep Alex Beecham commented, “I was angered to hear that two friends of mine had been subjected to such appalling homophobia in The Cellar and by their staff, and was surprised as I have often seen same-sex couples kissing there and have myself considered The Cellar to be one of my favourite places in Oxford. Many in Oxford’s LGBTQ community will avoid that club to its detriment unless the management reacts appropriately to ensure that we do not have to fear the threat of violence and intimidation.”

As his College’s LGBTQ rep, Sacha posted about the incident on the College LGBTQ reps Facebook group. He commented, “I was completely lost, with no idea what to do. Reactions from friends in College were extremely supportive, and on the wider LGBTQ reps Facebook group – they were great as well.”

The President of the Oxford University LGBTQ Society, Otamere Guobadia, expressed outrage at the news, telling Cherwell, “To be a minority, even in Oxford, our self-proclaimed ‘bastion of progression’ is to be in constant vigilance. There are the daily microagressions that feed into wider prejudices and contribute to othering and alienation, but then there are these very real very tangible acts of violence; acts that threaten our bodily integrity and what little sense of welcome we have in society.

“My college [Univ] flew the rainbow flag for the first time in its centuries long history today, and yet under these spires we are still being denied our right to determine their own lives and loves. We will not let this go. Our bodies have a right to take up space, and own who we are in public spheres, and to say that this is horrendous is an understatement. Fuck queerphobia and fuck establishments that perpetuate it.”

Hopkins told Cherwell, “If they’d [Sacha and Josh] like to have a chat with me personally, I’d be happy to do that”, further adding that The Cellar would review CCTV footage of the night to assess the claims of homophobic assault.

The University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry has released a study revealing that those diagnosed with depression are around three times more likely than the rest of the general population to commit violent crimes.

Violent crime was defined by the study as a conviction for homicide or attempted homicide, aggravated or common assault, robbery, arson, and sexual offences.

Researchers uncovered that 3.7 per cent of men and 0.5 per cent of women who were identified as clinically depressed committed a violent crime, in comparison with 1.2 per cent of men and 0.2 per cent of women in the general population.

However, the study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, was keen to emphasise that the overwhelming majority of depressed people are neither violent nor criminal and that the study does not seek to stigmatise those with mental health afflictions.

Researchers tracked the medical records and conviction rates of 47,158 people in Sweden diagnosed with depression during a three year period. They then proceeded to compare the data with the records of another 898,454 people, who had no history of diagnosed depression.

Achim Wolf, a research assistant in Oxford’s Department of Pyschiatry and somebody who worked on the study, told Cherwell, “First and foremost, our findings are destigmatising, emphasising that the vast majority of people with depression are not violent. However, the fact that there is an increased risk should encourage patients, their carers, and doctors to discuss and address any violent thoughts and behaviour patterns. Depression is an increasingly important public health issue.

“Studying its relationship with violence could help us better understand how to prevent violent crime and possibly reduce other adverse outcomes.”

He continued to discuss whether doctors’ guidelines or public policy should take into account this potential risk of violence, commenting, “Doctors routinely assess risks of suicide and self-harm in patients with depression. This is not currently done for violence. Our findings suggest that clinical guidelines should consider violence risk assessment in some patients.”

Paul Farmer, the Chief Executive of mental health charity Mind, commented, “Depression is the most common mental health problem, affecting one in ten people in England.

“The vast majority of people who experience depression pose no risk to others. In fact, they are far more likely to take their own life or self-harm than be violent towards others, as this research clearly shows.

“The link between dangerous behaviour and mental health is often exaggerated in the media, which fuels public misunderstanding and makes people fearful to talk about mental health issues. There is still a tremendous amount of stigma about mental health problems which can make it hard for people to come forward and seek the help they need.”

Pembroke College has passed a motion to hold a ‘Porter Appreciation Week’ from Monday 2nd to Friday 6th March, in line with the recent trend of JCRs trying harder to appreciate university staff.

During this week, the JCR will give the porters a card and present, alongside organising a secret complement box, a song-orientated honouring and a ‘Porter Poem competition’.

The motion was proposed by undergraduate Dan Bowen in an attempt to recognise “that Hilary must not be a fun time for our porter friends due to weather and drunken students”. He also wanted to rectify the “hard time” that the porters have been having recently, “mainly from members of the JCR”.

The motion declared, “The JCR believes we need to honour our porters to the highest degree. The JCR members often feel like they want to thank them, be it by gift or in words, but (being mainly British) JCR members feel too awkward to do so. The JCR further believes this would be a good opportunity for members of the JCR to make up with or thank the porters if they did something especially kind.”

The motion passed with two amendments; one being that a spending cap of £150 be introduced and the second to make this a ‘Pembroke Porter Appreciation Week’ as opposed to a day.

Pembroke JCR President Ben Nabarro commented, “The JCR understands how much the porters do for students and how integral they are to the student community. The JCR’s reaction has been almost uniformly positive and this is indicative of the number of people who, at some point or another, have been helped, cheered up, and generally looked out for by the college porters.

“I’m really glad to see so many in the JCR engaging with the week and I think it’s right we, as students, show our gratitude to all members of college staff who go over and above what they have to for students.”

Undergraduate Ste Sczcepanek told Cherwell, “I think it’s a good idea because it’s so easy to take the porters for granted or to underappreciate what they do for their job, so it’s a good chance to let them know that we appreciate them.”

However, others were quick to raise the issue of why this specific week is needed at all, with fresher Charlotte Lanning commenting, “I think that it’s a really nice idea, but I also think it’s quite superficial – why do we have a specific week to appreciate them when we should be being nice and respectful all of the time?”

Somerville College also passed a motion this week making all members of College support staff honorary members of the JCR. The motion initially proposed the instatement of bar staff Callum McGuire and Josh Ramli-Davies as honorary members, but was amended during the meeting to include all support staff at the college.

Asked about the passing of the motion, McGuire commented, “It’s great! Pretty sure Sean [McIntyre, who proposed the initial motion], meant it as a joke when he proposed it but if it turned out as something positive between staff and students that’s awesome.”

LMH’s JCR has likewise made more of an effort to appreciate its scouts by organising coffee mornings between college staff and students.

Oriel College has dismissed one of its contractors after students allegedly experienced intimidation and sexual harassment from builders working on a site in their Third Quad.

Oriel College’s Domestic Bursar, Kevin Melbourne, told Cherwell, “It was recently brought to the College’s attention that some of our College members had experienced or witnessed inappropriate remarks and behaviour by a contractor working on the Rhodes Building redevelopment.

“Oriel does not tolerate inappropriate behaviour of any kind and as soon as this issue was brought to our attention we took immediate action, removing the perpetrator from the premises within the hour. The College made it clear to the main contractor that this behaviour is utterly unacceptable, that it should not recur, and that any future instances would be dealt with very severely.

“All further reports have been investigated and to the best of our knowledge were historical instances that took place prior to the contractor being removed.

“The College has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment. We have urged all students to report any instances of unacceptable behaviour immediately to the Junior Deans or a member of the senior management team so that appropriate and speedy action can be taken.”

The refurbishment of the Rhodes Building, which currently houses fresher undergraduates, has been an ongoing project since June 2013 and was due to be finished in September 2014. While all the accommodation was finished in time for Michaelmas term, work by external contractors has been ongoing through Michaelmas and Hilary on seminar rooms and a new gym on the ground floor, as well as on landscaping Oriel’s Third Quad.

One second year female undergraduate commented to Cherwell, “In Michaelmas term, I experienced a number of incidents of harassment. The strangest was when one of the builders sang a song about my ass as I walked by. On a separate occasion, a group of them discussed my body loudly within earshot. I’ve lost count of the number of times they’ve whistled at me.

“As I live opposite the building site, this became a daily occurrence. I think I’ve been conditioned over the years to ignore street harassment but in hindsight I wish I’d reported it earlier. I finally decided to say something when I heard that a large number of girls had been subjected to this disgusting behaviour. The College has dealt with it extremely well.”

Another student, who also reported her concerns to College, commented, “Some of the builders working on Oriel’s Third Quad – one in particular – have demonstrated inappropriate behaviour towards myself and other female students whilst working in Third Quad, but mostly while taking breaks on Oriel Street.

“It is extremely uncomfortable to walk down there at the moment as they stand by the side and often look you up and down and mutter inappropriate comments. Living in Third Quad makes it pretty hard to avoid (particularly the staring). I have reported this to College and they are taking it very seriously and are trying to do something about it.”

The JCR President of Oriel, Kit Owens, commented to Cherwell, “I am very pleased with the quick and decisive response the college made when it became aware of reports of harassment. It sends a clear message that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our community.”

Police were called after members of Jesus College allegedly caused damage to Exeter College property on February 13th. A student from Jesus College threw a glass projectile at Exeter, breaking a window.

The governing body at Jesus College was unimpressed by the behaviour of the students involved. The Jesus College Dean, Professor Katrin Kohl, sent an email to students claiming that the throwing of glass objects at Exeter College “formed part of an unofficial event that is evidently considered by some to be a part of Jesus College tradition”.

The email continued, “The behaviour not only brought the College into disrepute but led to damage of Exeter College property. It will be self-evident that it was also extremely dangerous and could have led to serious personal injury or worse, and could have jeopardised the careers of the students involved in the aggressive behaviour.”

The incident allegedly occurred during the ‘Turl Street Dash’, the “unofficial event” referred to in the email from the Dean. The Turl Street Dash is thought to be a centuries-old tradition which serves as a form of competition between rival colleges Exeter and Jesus.

When asked to describe the event, a Jesus undergraduate told Cherwell, “The Dash is a noble tradition dating back nearly eight centuries (before Jesus College, and indeed the bicycle, was invented).

“In more recent times, it’s a very well known fact that T.E. Lawrence would drink a carafe of port each year, then ride his camel around the RadCam, up Turl Street and all the way to Turl Street Kitchen. He once listed the Dash as the single most important piece of mental and physical preparation he completed for the Capture of Aqaba in 1917.”

Participants usually have to run or cycle after drinking copious amounts of alcohol. In recent years, both Exeter and Jesus have banned students from participating in the Dash following rowdy behaviour and reports of injuries, with Exeter locking the gates to the College.

Usually, there is a quite a large turnout in the College bar prior to the race, where a ‘Mr and Mrs Jesus’ competition takes place. No cameras or phones are allowed, as specified in an email circulated before each year’s competition. Traditionally, six freshers are encouraged to consume alcohol before performing embarassing tasks, which, in the past, have included acting out as many sexual positions as possible in a limited period of time.

Following the glass throwing incident, Jesus College has deemed gathering for the Dash “an offence”, saying it will work with the JCR to avoid such events taking place in future.

Speaking of the incident, Professor Katrin Kohl, the Dean of Jesus, told Cherwell, “The Turl Street Dash was banned some years ago because of the danger of escalation. Jesus College very much regrets that one of its students threw glass in such a context, and regards the reported behaviour as entirely unacceptable.

“The student identified has been appropriately punished and has written a letter of apology to Exeter College. The JCR has been reminded that the Turl Street Dash is banned and has been told that the ban will be enforced should there be a similar gathering in the future.”

The Jesus College JCR President announced in their most recent OGM that if there were any Turl Street Dash participants in future years, they would be fined by College.

A police spokesperson commented, “We are investigating the incident as criminal damage. A glass was thrown at the window, smashing it.” Police have not confirmed whether anyone has been charged for the offence.

Another Jesus student, who wished to remain anonymous, commented, “The Turl Street Dash is a bit of a joke – no-one takes it seriously. I think that the person involved didn’t really understand that it was meant to be ironic and got a bit over excited while trying to impress the older boys.”

Plans for 500 new homes in North Oxford have been presented to the public by a group made up of St John’s, Worcester, and property development group Kier Ventures Ltd.

According to the developers, the development would include up to 500 new homes, a hotel with 120 to 180 bedrooms, a 90,000 square metre business complex, shops, cycle routes, and public spaces. Construction could begin as early as 2017.

The development group, known as the Northern Gateway Consortium, held an introductory consultation event on February 20th. The land in question is mostly owned by St John’s and Worcester, with some plots owned by Merton and Oxford City Council. However, Merton and Oxford City Council are not part of the consortium.

Oxford’s Northern Gateway, the area where the development is being proposed, is immediately north-east of Summertown and is flanked by the A34. Some of the land is currently marked as Green Belt land, and would need to be reclassified before building could commence.

The Oxford Mail also reports that plans for a new primary school may be considered.

The Northern Gateway Consortium revealed to Cherwell, “There is a lot of work to be done between now and submitting our outline planning application. We will be speaking to Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, the Highways Authority, and a range of other consultees, including local residents and local groups, over the coming months.

“There are a number of factors that could influence the timing of our outline planning application submission. Flexibility has been built into our programme to allow us to respond to the Northern Gateway Area Action Plan adoption programme and other strategic consultations.”

Some local groups have voiced opposition to the move, however. Helen Marshall, the director of the Campaign to Protect Rural England Oxfordshire, told the Oxford Mail, “Traffic and air pollution in the area are already atrocious.

“The proposed development will make things worse. We are also concerned about the five storey buildings proposed on higher ground within the Northern Gateway area, which could affect Port Meadow’s protected views and spoil the rural character of Wolvercote.

“Coming hot on the heels of Oxford University’s commitment to do better following the lessons learned from the Castle Mill accommodation blocks, it is worrying to see that St John’s and Worcester colleges are still not giving adequate consideration to the visual impact of their buildings.”

Ann Duncan, the Green Party candidate for the Oxford East constituency in this year’s elections, claimed, “Regarding the Northern Gateway development project in particular, we would support some (but not all) of the development proposed for the area, providing that the genuine concerns around traffic and flood risk are properly addressed. The development should focus on social housing rather than ‘employment growth’ as this would lead to even more housing demand. As the traffic and flood risk issues limit this development, there wouldn’t be a need to build on the green belt here.

“We need to solve Oxford’s housing crisis with a range of solutions, as well as building new social homes. Oxford has over 800 empty homes but the Council has only agreed to use compulsory purchase powers twice. Better use of these powers could bring many of these empty homes back into use.”

Kevin Dixon from the Consortium, added, “We are very much at the start of the planning process, however we recognise that many residents are concerned about traffic and infrastructure in North Oxford. Over the next few months, before we submit a planning application, we will be outlining how we will improve local infrastructure and the steps we will be taking to ensure that our proposals are sustainable.

“Following our initial consultation last week, we are now analysing the feedback received and we will present our outline plans to the community later this year, before we submit an application. Our proposals will reflect the City Council’s Core Strategy and Northern Gateway Area Action Plan, as well as comments from the local community. We are committed to promoting a world class development which responds positively to the context of North Oxford, integrates fully with its neighbouring communities and delivers substantial benefits for visitors to the city as well as existing residents and businesses.”

The project’s official timeline implies that the Consortium hopes to submit an outline planning application by July or August, which will be considered by planning authorities. One of the first public consultations took place on 21st November 2013 in the form of a Wolvercote Neighbourhood Forum public meeting.

Government approval for the plans was sought in October last year. Leader of the Oxford City Council Bob Price explained at the time, “The Northern Gateway development is a rare opportunity to provide significant space within the city for the innovation and knowledge-based sector so important to Oxford’s economy.

“It also offers the opportunity to provide additional new homes and facilities in a thriving new community.”

OUSU’s Rent and Accommodation Officer, Danny Waldman, told Cherwell, “As OUSU was keen to highlight recently in the Castle Mill debate, Oxford is the most expensive city to live in: building more housing can only be a good thing from that perspective. Obviously, this won’t change the Council’s 3,000 ‘living out’ student cap, but more housing means cheaper rent generally.

“I can’t say to what extent the consortium will deal with the traffic issues, but I’d be confident that they won’t unreasonably dismiss a strong concern of local residents if this comes out in their public inquiry.

“I’d also hazard a guess that they’ll double-check any Environmental Impact Surveys for their larger buildings overlooking Port Meadow…”

Pembroke’s JCR has passed a motion condemning the current system of college fines as a punishment for student misbehaviour.

The motion, which was passed in last Sunday’s JCR meeting, declared, “Pembroke College uses fines as punishments for bad student behaviour. This JCR believes that this is a discriminatory and unfair system of punishment, affects some students more than others, and is frequently an irrelevant punishment to the misdemeanour.”

It continued, “This JCR resolves to oppose this collegiate process and attempt to work with the college to have a new punishment system put in place.”

The proposer of the motion, Charlotte Vickers, told Cherwell, “Fines are an incredibly discriminative form of punishment – somewhat backwards in the world of Oxford, where equal opportunities for those from any financial backgrounds are encouraged – and Pembroke has given out a few very hefty ones in the past couple of months.

“Our JCR president is already working on alternative disciplinary procedures. Some we suggested were community service, spending a night with the porters or being ‘grounded’ from bops.”

Pembroke’s regulations state that “the Dean may fine any student a sum of up to £200 for the commission of any disciplinary offence.”

A Pembroke spokesperson told Cherwell, “A system of discipline which includes the proportionate use of fines is common across Colleges in Oxford, and any arrangement that effectively deters anti-social behaviour of a kind that is detrimental to the College community will, by its nature, be complex. At Pembroke, if payment of a fine causes genuine hardship or threatens to interrupt academic progress, the College works with students to find a payment schedule that alleviates the difficulty.”

Pembroke’s JCR president Ben Nabarro commented, “The JCR has been engaged in the issue for some time, especially as several incidents from last year exposed the clear inadequacies of fines, which, as a means of punishment, have proven to be neither fair nor effective.

“As long as the system remains fundamentally based on fixed fines, it will remain regressive, unfair, and with poorer students disproportionately affected.

“The passage of this motion has allowed the JCR to speak with a clear voice on this issue and it should provide us with good momentum.”

A Cherwell investigation in Trinity term of 2014 found that in the last three years, some colleges have charged their student bodies more than £10,000 in fines.

The most common offence to incur fines was alcohol-related misbehaviour. Other finable misdemeanours reported to C+ included smoking in a college room, file-sharing and unauthorised parties.

Oriel JCR President Kit Owens is penning a report on fines given to JCR members last term. Owens told Cherwell, “I presented [the report] to the JCR who voted to endorse it. This report has prompted a discussion with senior college members on the subject of disciplinary fines which is ongoing.”

A University spokesman commented, “The rules are quite clear and the Proctors’ role is to investigate possible breaches of University disciplinary codes and to bring charges against students accused of infringing those codes. A fine of up to £300 is one possible outcome.”

Analysis: Lucjan Kaliniecki argues that Colleges seem more interested in making money than their students’ welfare

We’ve all been there. From the 3am rave next door when you’ve got a 9am tute to the trashed staircase after Park End, sometimes we find it difficult to love our neighbours. Whilst we understand that we’re no longer at school and don’t expect to be treated as such, sometimes even the most tolerant of us want someone else to intervene in these disruptive situations.

Of course, no one is arguing that we shouldn’t have some form of disciplinary system for when things get a out of hand. Usually, getting deaned is a fair way of warning someone that they’re out of order. But imposing fines for similar misdeeds seems unnecessarily punitive.

At the very least, these measures would appear to be effective: you’re hitting the student where it especially hurts – the stereotype that all Oxford students have cash to splash isn’t exactly true. In cases involving the damage of property, fines do seem a fair punishment.

However, we must then consider what misdeeds are suited to imposing fines. I’d think that occasions when this form of punishment is appropriate are pretty rare. I’d like to know how it is decided whether an act of misbehaviour is bad enough that it warrants a fine. Is there even a threshold, or will the college just use the fine hammer for everything and anything? How much is this fine, anyway? And how will it correspond to the crime? While we all wish that queue-cutters in the canteen will receive their come-uppance in a fairly minor way later in the evening, I don’t think any of us would agree that a fine of up to £200 would be a fair response to this act.

It also doesn’t help assuage concerns that colleges care more about their finances than the wellbeing of their students. The campaign ‘Whose University?’ is gathering evidence about such behaviour. Students’ testimonies, posted on the group’s Facebook page, often accuse their college of being “far more focused on money” than their students, especially with accommodation.

It’s too much of a broad-stroke to suggest this system is purely discriminatory and regressive. Anyone can misbehave, so everyone should be punished. Where cases of misbehaviour are connected to deeper issues, these should obviously be taken into account, but then we get ourselves embroiled in a weird, complicated, almost means-tested system that makes you wonder why the college is bothering with this whole scheme in the first place. Is this an effective way of curbing bad behaviour, or just another money-making ploy?

The College’s role should be to ensure the welfare of its students and to discipline those who harass or disrupt. Monetary fines do not seem like an appropriate way of doing this, nor are they the only way.

The JCR’s suggestions look like a better solution, and could even be more effective when someone would much rather pay a fine than spend a few hours doing chores or volunteering. Colleges must consider the effect on the community of disciplinary actions, not just their pockets.

UCAS rule changes will allow UK students to use the service to apply to EU universities.

Under the new rules, this process would be easier, with universities from Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands, among others, all now being allowed to join the UCAS service.

Despite suggestions from Ian Fordham of The Education Foundation to The Telegraph that applications to UK universities could drop by up to ten per cent over the next couple of years, an Oxford University spokesperson insisted that Oxford would not be affected.

“Applicants to Oxford are a small and self-selecting group within the pool of UK university applicants; we will continue to do our best to attract bright students from all backgrounds but do not expect applications to Oxford to change substantially as a result of this UCAS decision.”

The change comes as the number of UK students applying to foreign universities is rising. A British Council survey of 2,500 students taken in April of last year found that 37 per cent would take up a degree overseas, a 17 per cent increase from 2013.

Lower fees at European universities could make them an attractive prospects for British sixthform students.

UCAS told Cherwell, “With more choice in the market, there is a need to ensure that student interests are protected.

“We want students who apply for courses through UCAS to be confident that they are applying for a verified qualification at an institution which meets the relevant quality standards. As a consequence, we have reviewed the criteria for access to UCAS services to ensure that they are fit for purpose in this changing environment. We will therefore consider requests from European higher education providers to use UCAS services if they can demonstrate that they meet equivalent standards to those in the UK.”

Maastricht University has not yet become a full member of UCAS, but Cherwell understands that it intends to use some UCAS services. Dr Michael Geary, Chair of Maastricht’s student recruitment team, told Cherwell, “Needless to say, we are very happy that UCAS will open the application system to non-British universities; it’s a very progressive move.

“We are the most international of the Dutch universities with one of the biggest UK student populations in Europe. British students come to Maastricht for a number of reasons. It’s not just about the money although we do have a far more competitive fee structure.

“In an ever competitive jobs market, students need to differentiate themselves through the educational choices they make. Studying abroad has a significant number of opportunities.”

A Government spokesperson for the Department of Business Innovation and Skills told Cherwell, “This is a matter for UCAS, a body independent from Government. We welcome the wider choice this will provide for students and UCAS’ rigorous scrutiny of European universities applying will ensure they demonstrate that they meet equivalent standards to those in the UK.”