Blog Page 1270
Clegg claims Oxbridge graduates face ‘prejudice’
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has claimed that Oxbridge graduates face a “misplaced prejudice just because of where they finished their education,” when applying to public sector jobs.
Mr Clegg, also leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, was asked after giving a speech to public sector workers about the difficulty some graduates experience when applying to the sector after graduating.
Saskia Goldman, a Cambridge English graduate, complained to Mr. Clegg that she and others had suffered discrimination from a range of public sector employers in their post-graduation job hunt.
He replied “I think it is a huge, huge shame that you have got friends who want to give back who are talented and come up through the ranks entirely meritocratically and are being blocked.”
Goldman, who has since taken a Masters in International Relations, told the Telegraph that “it is a commonly acknowledged thing amongst my friends that if you have Cambridge on your CV [employers in the public sector] can’t have too many of you”.
She also claimed that a friend was told in an interview for the BBC that, “’it’s amazing you slipped through the net because we don’t get that many of your lot this far down in the process”.
Jonathan Black, Director of the Careers Service, told Cherwell that they have had “no direct experience or evidence” of Oxford graduates facing discrimination.
He explained, “Recruiters are seeking the best candidates for the job and by the time they are reviewing applications, interviewing or running assessment centres, the candidate’s university is of minor concern.
“Our hard evidence is that Oxford students attain jobs in a very wide range of sectors, including the public sector; as examples, TeachFirst and Frontline [a social work programme] have appointed large numbers of students from Oxford – indeed Oxford has been the university from which the largest number of successful applicants has come.”
The Deputy Prime Minister went on to say that “we could live in a country where each individual, regardless of the circumstance of their birth, is treated as individuals, not treating people as though they have something tattooed on their forehead of: I went to this school, I went to this University.”
Anna Lewis, a first year Biochemist at St Catherine’s, commented she was that although she is worried about the competitive job market for graduates, “I am not worried that having studied at Oxford, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, will count against me.”
‘Big Sleepout’ held in New College
Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) held a ‘The Big Sleepout’ this weekend, with students spending spending the night sleeping rough in New College quad.
The event was designed to increase awareness of the acute homelessness problem afflicting Oxford as well as to raise money for the charity Oxford Homeless Pathways.
The Sleepout has been organised as the culmination of Homelessness Awareness week, held by OUSU’s new ‘On Your Doorstep’ campaign, an initiative intended to provide students with information concerning how they can help end homelessness.
Students assembled in New College quad on Saturday evening and heard a talk from Oxford Homeless Pathways on the importance of the charity’s work, followed by a discussion ofthe issues surrounding homelessness.
Sandwiches and hot drinks were provided to participants, though they had to bring their own sleeping bags.
Darcey Murphy, a student from Balliol closely involved with the organisation of the night, commented, “we wanted to do a Sleepout as part of On Your Doorstep’s Homelessness Awareness Week. We’re having a discussion about what it means to be homeless and the stigma around it.”
The event cost £3 to attend, most of which will be used to fund the Hostel O’Hanlon House. The hostel accommodates two hundred people who would otherwise be homeless, fifty six of whom are rough sleepers, every night of the year.
Lesley Dewhurst, Chief Executive of the charity, explained how Oxford has a particularly acute homelessness problem due to the high cost of accommodation and lack of affordable housing.
She explained that, “the effects of the recession and welfare reform have exacerbated these problems, and cuts to local authority spending are having a serious impact on services like ours which rely on grant funding.”
Many individuals and JCRs have expressed solidarity with the aims of the initiative. Keble JCR’s Charities Officer remarked, “Homelessness is one of the most visible social problems in Oxford. The campaign is a great way of raising awareness for local initiatives and charities that we can all support.”
Some people have vioced concerns that the event reduces the problem to the singular issue of sleeping rough, rather than encompassing all issues surrounding homelessness.
A Keble second year commented, “Whilst the idea seems good as a means of raising awareness, there is a danger students will feel they can empathise with the homeless, despite their relative safety in New College, and the provision of food and drink”.
However, the organisers are quick to dispel fears that they are attempting to emulate the gravity of the problem. Darcey Murphy explained that, “we’re not trying to claim that sleeping out for one night in any way reflects what it’s like to be homeless, but we’re hoping it will encourage people to consider their conceptions of homelessness more closely.”
CherwellTV has filmed the sleepout and a broadcast will be available on our website soon.
Preview: Dahling, You Were Marvellous
Steven Berkoff’s Dahling, You Were Marvellous (on at the Burton-Taylor Studio in 4th week) offers a biting parody of the world of theatre and the theatrical luvvies within its bubble.
The play presents an evening in a fashionable West End restaurant where the after show party following an opening night performance at the theatre is in full swing. As the evening unfolds, we meet a range of characters from the worlds of theatre, TV and film. In amongst the sycophants and hacks, is Brick Bergman, a New York movie star, Sir Michael Wally, a renowned theatre director, Sid, a left-wing fringe elitist, Morris Welder, a fat-cat English producer, Dicky Tong, a harsh critic, and many more. As they all engage in the business of schmoozing, networking and backstabbing, the desperate dependence of these characters on the outside world to give their lives substance and meaning becomes fully apparent. An audience, any audience, is what they crave.
“It’s a style of performance that I really enjoy,” co-director and producer Ellie Page tells me when I ask why she chose the play. “And it’s good to parody the theatre world, poking fun at all those people who take themselves too seriously — myself included!”
Watching the performance in rehearsal, the physicality of the comedy is particularly striking. The bare set design — there is hardly any set dressing or props — is, Ellie tells me, an important aspect of the Berkovian style, with the audience’s focus directed entirely towards the actor’s physical work. “We approached the grotesque characterisation by ‘stretching’ a more realistic character,” she says, “and explored how changing our dominant body part affected the character. Some body parts were fairly straightforward, such as the chest, but others were far more obscure, such as the tongue or teeth.”
I was shown a preview of several different scenes; they work like snapshots of the theatrical and media worlds, as the focus rapidly jumps between the different characters in the restaurant. The five-strong cast, Helena Wilson, Nick Davies, Misha Pinnington, David Meredith and Cameron Cook, are thus called upon to play multiple roles. Cameron Cook, who along with Ellie Page has co-directed the production, emphasises how the cast have tackled this challenge. “The cast have worked hard to create very well defined characters, which helps when it comes to playing multiple parts,” he explains. “The greatest difficulty is sustaining the energy required to keep the clarity of character.”
From the rehearsals I witnessed, it seems the cast have managed to achieve their aim. The production moves along at a rapid pace, with smooth scene transitions helping to retain the high intensity of the performance. If the wit and verve of the rehearsals that I saw is translated into performance, they promise to deliver a wildly amusing evening’s entertainment. Although a challenge, they all agree that the retaining of the energetic focus of the production is one of the best aspects of the performance and they have very much enjoyed the opportunity to play such a variety of absurd characters.
Although the play is based on the London theatrical scene, the intensity of the world of Oxford drama makes Ellie’s final comment on the play’s depiction of the theatrical world seem rather pertinent. “I think sometimes people see it as a social club, hoping to make their own membership more special by keeping others out.
“Poking fun at this kind of behaviour is an entertaining way of highlighting that I suppose, and trying to reverse the trend. That being said, I know I fall into some of the classic behaviours but I do try to at least be self-aware about it!”
Oxford joins Google in Artificial Intelligence partnership
Google DeepMind and Oxford University have announced a “wide-ranging, mutually beneficial” partnership.
The Computer Science Department and the Engineering Department at Oxford University will share a “substantial contribution” by Google. In a post on its blog, Google did not reveal any financial details, instead saying that the partnership will include a program of student internships and a series of joint lectures and workshops to “share knowledge and expertise”.
Google DeepMind has hired seven leading academics and experts from two startups within the two departments. Three members of the group are professors who will hold joint appointments with Oxford University. Startup Dark Blue Labs was co-founded earlier this year by Computer Science Professors Phil Blunsom and Nando de Freitas, together with graduates Dr Edward Grefenstette and Dr Karl Moritz Hermann. In a statement, the DBL team said they will “fully integrate into Google DeepMind” whilst also maintaining a “strong link to the university”.
The co-founders of Vision Factory, a startup that recently developed one of the winning systems at the 2014 ImageNet competition, will also merge with DeepMind. Dr Karen Simonyan and Max Jaderberg will fully join the team, whilst Professor Andrew Zisserman – the only three-time winner of the Marr Prize for computer vision – will have a joint appointment with Oxford University.
According to Dark Blue Labs CEO Dr Karl Moritz, the contribution made by Google DeepMind to Oxford University will create “significant numbers of extra scholarships and funding to talented DPhil students”. Google will also offer a number of internship to students allowing them to “receive practical experience with a world-leading company”. The Department of Computer Science commented saying: “By establishing a strong research group in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) in London – with ties to Oxford – gives students in those areas additional career options going forward.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, is actively expanding its A.I. capabilities as it looks to maintain its dominance over the Internet search market and to continue developing new products such as self-driving cars. A.I. research firm DeepMind, and the company’s founder British scientist Demis Hassabis, was acqui-hired by Google for $400 million according to media reports. Hassabis, commenting on the new hires said: “We are thrilled to welcome these extremely talented machine learning researchers to the Google DeepMind team and are excited about the potential impact of the advances their research will bring.”
Computer Science undergraduate Joshua Clark commented on the new partnership saying: “I’m excited for this project… [it] will allow people to work both in the distinct culture and trappings of the University and with resources only accessible to industry giants… such research should inspire future applicants at all levels.”
Visiting Computer Science student Paul Logan thinks that “it’s great that Google is sourcing from Oxford” but sees the partnership as “just a company acting in its best interest to increase market share, and a university acting to increase publicity, research funding, and student career interests.” Hassabis, said on Google’s blog, “these exciting partnerships underline how committed Google DeepMind is to supporting the development of UK academia and the growth of strong scientific research labs.”
The full effects of the new partnership will not be felt for some time, but the Computer Science Department said, “We look forward to the relationship continuing to grow, and are excited at the prospect of what we can achieve together with Google DeepMind.”
Missing Exeter cartoon found
A cartoon of sentimental value has been returned to the Exeter College JCR. The ‘Cut the Catering Charge’ cartoon was returned following a university wide appeal, as the Exeter JCR sought to deflect controversy over its mysterious disappearance.
The cartoon disappeared on 26th September and was replaced in its frame with a newspaper page.
‘Cut the Catering Charge’ depicts the College’s Bursar and Rector barricaded in college kitchens during Exeter JCR’s student hall boycott last Hilary. Drawn in the middle of the boycott, it provided a valuable rallying point for the discontented students. At the time the students were protesting against the £840 dining bill. Currently, the cartoon is the property of the Exeter JCR since the College Rector bought the cartoon on behalf of the JCR for £250.
JCR Secretary Tutku Betkas previously told Cherwell the theft was “nerve-breaking, especially considering the sentimental value of the cartoon.”
However Cherwell can reveal that the cartoon has been reclaimed by Exeter College. It was unearthed by a member of the Exeter JCR, lying under a box of condoms on Friday 24 October.
Richard Collett-White, Exeter JCR president expressed his relief, saying, “It’s looking a bit worse for wear, but I think that adds something quite special to the overall effect. In any case, it’s a relief to have it back. That’s all there is to it, I’m afraid. Nothing very dramatic.”
Either way Exeter College can now rest assured that this memento to their uprising is restored.
Merton celebrate historic Time Ceremony
Between 2am British Summer Time and 2am Greenwich Mean Time last Sunday, Mertonians took part in the traditional Time Ceremony, walking backwards around Fellow’s Quad in full sub fusc, allegedly to “maintain the space-time continuum”.
The ceremony dates back to 1971, when only five undergraduates at Merton College took part. Forty three years later, these same five undergraduates still return to their old College every year on the last Sunday of October, to take part in the now archetypal Mertonian ritual.
The science behind the ceremony has never been truly validated, but the aim of the ceremony is to “create an oasis of calm to protect against the perturbative effects of the change from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time”, according to Merton JCR President Daniel Schwennicke.
The ceremony begins on Sundial Lawn at 01:50am British Summer Time, where the founders (or the “Grand Originals” as some Mertonians know them) give three toasts to the assembly. These toasts are:
“To a good old time!”, “Long live the counter revolution!” and “o tempora, o more!”.
Students then move on through the South Gate to enter the 17th century Fellow’s Quad, where the actual ceremony takes place. The participants in the ceremony walk backwards, linking arms to form chains of people, and spinning at each corner.
Paul Engeham, one of the five founders of the Time Ceremony, described one of the difficulties of participating in the Time Ceremony: “when you have great strings of people, you can’t turn properly, and the furthest person on the line ends up being swung out… three is the perfect number for spinning”.
As is tradition, attendees drink port (or a non-alcoholic, but purple coloured substitute). College has banned glass bottles from the quad due to safety concerns, so participants carry their drinks in plastic bottles.
JCR and MCR volunteers are on hand every year to provide water and help look after any students in need of support.
In an effort to control numbers, the porters locked all entrances to Merton College at 23:00 British Summer Time, and students had to present their Bod cards at the Lodge to gain admittance to the college after this time, and to ensure that only Mertonians attended the ceremony.
Nevertheless, as there is every year, there were several attempts to break in. Two undergraduates scaled a wall near North Lodge Gate, and were found and turned away by Merton College porters.
However, one fourth year undergraduate, who wished to remain anonymous, told Cherwell, “I managed to get into the college, but I think a porter saw me. I crouched down and hid in a bush while he walked past. He knew I was there – it was like something out of a horror film. But then I got into the Time Ceremony itself, and it was the most surreal, fantastic thing ever”.
The ceremony used to be preceded by the original founders climbing up the walls in Fellow’s Quad to unscrew the lamps, so that the space-time continuum could be preserved in darkness. The undergraduates also used to hold bottles containing candles to light their way.
The Time Ceremony has persisted for several decades now, having been embraced by College (whereas originally it was held in secret), but in the late 1970s it seemed that it would never become a fixed Merton tradition. Phillip Brown, a friend of the founders, and a regular participator in the Time Ceremony, died of throat cancer.
Without him, his friends were reluctant to continue the ceremony. However, Paul Engeham, one of the founders, said that they decided to re-start in the early 1980s, rooting the Time Ceremony as a Merton tradition in tribute to Phillip Brown.
Founder Garth Fowden said in reflection of the ceremony, “anyway, the bell tolled (did it?), the mist swirled (inevitably), much port was imbibed (with mathematical certainty), and the lonely shadowy figures reversed round the hallowed quad. They must surely now be revolving in their graves or their bath chairs at the thought of what it has become.”
Since its renewal in the 1980s, the ceremony has grown in popularity, and is now as popular with current undergraduates as it was with those few who took part decades ago. First year Merton undergraduate Caleb Rich described the ritual as “weird and wonderful”.
Merton College sports representative and second year undergraduate historian Freddie Money quipped that Time Ceremony is “definitely taking the concept of spinning sessions to a new level”.
In an email from the Merton JCR President, Daniel Schwennicke, sent to the undergraduate student body of the college, Time Ceremony was described as, “one of the great events in the Merton calendar, and one of the most surreal and incomparable evenings that you [Merton students] will experience in your time at Oxford”.
Record number of applicants to Oxford
The number of applications to Oxford for 2015 entry has risen sharply.
Oxford have received 18,325 applications for approximately 3,100 places this year, representing a substantial five percent increase from 12 months ago, when there were 17,484 applications for the same number of places.
Cambridge have not revealed their exact figures for this year, but have confirmed they are not expecting to see an increase in the 16,720 applications made for 3,300 places that they received for 2014 entry.
It is believed that many students have been deterred by Cambridge’s decision to introduce more stringent entry requirements at A Level.
The University of Oxford commented, “through our outreach activities Oxford aims to attract talented candidates from as wide a range of backgrounds and schools as possible. We are pleased that today’s figures suggest we are succeeding in encouraging more bright students than ever before to apply to Oxford.”
The fall in Cambridge applications comes as the university tightens entry requirements for science courses.
It has been suggested that the advice given by schools has contributed to the widening gap between Oxford and Cambridge applications, with Alexi Andriopoulos, a PPEist at Univ saying, “the head of the Oxbridge admissions at my school said don’t apply to Cambridge if you don’t average 89 UMS at AS whereas Oxford is worth a go as long as you’ve got decent GCSE results.”
However, Lucjan Kaliniecki, a human scientist at St. Catz, disagrees, stating, “I think prospective students aren’t so fickle that they are attracted to the most colourful leaflet worded in the cuddliest tone. I applied to Oxford rather than Cambridge because of the course and nothing else.”
Oliver Wright, a first year at Lincoln, thinks that students looking to avoid the tough A Level results demanded by Cambridge might be to the detriment of state educated pupils, saying, “if anything this development makes Oxford more inaccessible: it just means Oxford are looking at things like confidence when being interview and performance in pre interview tests all of which tend to favour people who can be specially coached, rather than performance in exams. This might discourage state school applicants.”
It is not just Cambridge applications that are down on last year: UCAS reports that in the month of October 56,360 applications were made to all institutions, representing a reduction of three percent from the year before, with the number of English students showing considerable decline to its lowest level in over five years in contrast to the increase in applications from foreign students. There has also been a marked decrease in the number of students applying for medical and veterinary courses.
With Oxford increasingly holding the claim of being more over-subscribed than Cambridge, there are worries from some students that the daunting numbers will put off some prospective applicants, with one student saying, “It’s all very well and good to get one over on Cambridge, but if it scares off future applicants who would thrive at Oxford then surely the news isn’t actually very positive, especially if the combination of tough entry grades at Cambridge and tough numbers at Oxford means Oxbridge applications fall overall.”
Catz sports teams sign up to anti-homophobia campaign
St Catz Football Club have always been a high-achieving team — their narrow loss in last year’s Cuppers final is proof of that. Now, however, they are leading the way in a whole new field: from this term, any footballer who has kicked a ball for Catz will receive in their pidge a pair of rainbow laces, as part of the College’s commitment to Stonewall UK’s campaign to kick homophobia out of football.
According to Stonewall, seven in ten football fans have witnessed anti-gay slurs on the terraces — meanwhile, there is not a single openly gay or bi-sexual professional football player in England (although several players in Europe and North America have come out in recent years).Homophobia is endemic in football, and whilst a college team wearing rainbow laces cannot solve the problem, raising awareness must surely be considered the first step.
The impetus behind the Catz scheme came from the 2nd XI football captain, Pete Woods, who had no difficulty securing the support of LGBTQ Rep Eleanor Diamond and JCR President Jack Hampton.
The backing of the College authorities has been essential, as JCR funds were used to purchase the laces. Though the campaign originated with the football team, it is soon to be rolled out across the College’s sports teams, with hockey and rugby scheduled to receive their laces in the near future.
The College’s 1st XI captain, Oli Troen, is proud of his college. “It’s a fantastic initiative,” he commented. “Homophobia is still rife in sport and it’s only through grassroots campaigns like this that we can stamp it out.”
Three games into the season, Catz Men’s 1st Football Team sit second; perhaps the laces have brought them good luck, as well as making a difference in the fight against prejudice.
Oxford Lieder Festival: Doric Quartet
The 2014 Oxford Lieder Festival is drawing to a close, having presented this year’s audiences with the ‘The Schubert Project’: all of Schubert’s songs (over 600) have been performed over the last three weeks by such internationally renowned artists as The Schubert Ensemble, Imogen Cooper, and Bengt Forsberg.
The Doric String Quartet (violins: Alex Redington and Jonathan Stone, viola: Hélène Clément, cello: John Myerscough) have won several prizes and have a busy international concert schedule. They were joined for this concert by cellist Bartholomew LaFollette, whose solo performances in recital and concerto settings have received great critical acclaim.
Following the previous evening’s performance of the ‘Death and the Maiden’ (D.810) the quartet returned to the historic Holywell Music Room for Schubert’s last chamber work: the String Quintet in C Major, D.956. The dynamic between the first and second cellists was notable for its energy and this remained exciting throughout the performance.
Some of the concert’s most striking moments were the frequent passages where two instruments play in dialogue. This was particularly the case with the cellists, whose low-register restless figures underpinned the higher voices with striking intensity; they played their gentle duet in the first movement with lyrical, well-blended tones. When the two violins took over this theme, they retained the rich tone and mirrored their perfect balance in the higher register.
The gentle opening of the Adagio was well-paced and the gradual harmonic shifts in the opening chords were subtly handled by the inner parts. This was flanked by sweetly played, but never indulgent, melodic interjections from first violinist Redington, and resounding, articulate pizzicati from LaFollette.
Schubert’s quintet is full of contrasts — the inner movements in particular have strikingly different central episodes characteristic of his later style. The turbulent centre of the Adagio was gripping, with Redington and Mysercough rhythmically exact and matching in volume and intensity. The low cello rumblings of LaFollette and the rhythmic urgency in the inner parts afforded this ‘volcanic’ episode the energy it deserves.
The Scherzo was executed at a fast tempo, and the smiles of the quintet suggest they were enjoying it as much as the audience was! The music was allowed able to speak for itself — Clément and LaFollette gave their duet passages time to breathe, and the different voicings of the closing passage were brought out with subtle clarity.
Aside from one moment in the Finale where the highly technical violin figures seemed on the verge of derailment, the fast tempo paid off and the energy of the performance shone through. The final minute was perfectly judged and very exciting, and the closing figures were appropriately dramatic. The quintet was received extremely well by its audience, and the performance was a perfect end to an excellent season of chamber music at the Oxford Lieder Festival.