In a Lloyds Banking Group survey of the quality of life of students at universities throughout the UK, Oxford came in fifth place, behind Loughborough, Cambridge and Newcastle.

The study was based on factors including student satisfaction, living costs, sports facilities and salaries after graduation.

Although 88.2% of Oxford students are happy with their course, satisfaction amongst Durham students was even higher, at 90%, according to the Internationaal Student Barometer. Furthermore, while 90% of Oxford students were satisfied with their overall living experience, only 71% were happy with accommodation costs, college sport facilities and the cost of living.

Durham, on the other hand, excelled in these areas, listed as having the second best sporting facilities in Britain, with students benefitting from the lower cost of living in the northeast in addition.

Despite a lower quality of life, Oxford continues to lead the pack in a number of areas: according to the International Student Barometer, Oxford came first out of 200 international universities for the subject expertise of its lecturers. The first-year median salaries of Oxford graduates are similarly impressive, at £24,800 against Durham’s £22,000.

Overall, there was little correlation between student satisfaction and academic performance. High-performing universities such as Imperial College, London and UCL all have relatively low student satisfaction.

A first-year Classicist at St. Chad’s College, Durham, who was previously interviewed at Keble College, puts this phenomenon down to the “edgy and competitive” atmosphere he experienced at Oxford.

He told Cherwell, “Durham is nowhere near as intimidating as Oxford was, and the emphasis placed on extra-curricular activities whilst maintaining academic rigour and interest is helping me to enjoy both while I am at university.”

Whether the figures provide and accurate representation of quality of life, however, is uncertain. The quality of sporting facilities has a disproportionate impact on the results despite being based only on universities’ performances in British Universities and Colleges Sport competitions. Loughborough and Durham do well, having topped the BUCS table in the 2012/13 season, while Oxford’s croquet lawns and free gym membership do not score any points.

The phrase “quality of life” is also unclear, attempting to combine the subjective satisfaction of students with objective factors such as the number of pubs within walking distance of an institution.

Other polls have revealed a different story from the one put forward by Lloyds. This year’s National Student Survey of over 300,000 final year students in fact placed Oxford above Durham by one percentage point, while Bath, which is sixth in the Lloyd’s survey, comes top.

Despite the problems with this data, the results as a whole are positive: the National Student Survey reported a very high satisfaction rate of 86% nationwide, marginally increasing on last year’s record. These surveys may not give a reliable picture of the marginal differences between the experiences of students in top universities, but do identify an encouraging overall trend.

Admissions from students across the UK and the EU for the 2013 cycle were 446,000, a nine per cent rise on the lower than average 2012 figure, dispelling concerns that a hike in tuition fees would reduce the number of students applying to UK universities.

This year’s rise may have taken some universities by surprise. The University of York has been fined a total of £500,000 after accepting more students than permitted for courses starting this year.

Oxford have yet to release their admissions figures for this year, which are expected in November, but considering that Cambridge received its highest number of applicants for five years, the outlook appears positive.

Ed Eliot, a third-year historian, commented, “Given that Oxford is seen as such a prestigious university I’d imagine higher fees, although pretty ridiculous, wouldn’t put applicants off as much, especially when fees are high across the board.”

The increase in applications occurred across the UK including in Scotland, where the government voted to scrap tuition fees in 2007. However, there was a continued fall in the number of Scottish students studying at universities in England and Wales; just 1,540 – fewer than six per cent – opted to study south of the border, arguably because coming south of the border means paying the £9,000 fees.

Scottish student Will Hesselmann explained the situation north of the boarder, telling Cherwell, “With the tuition fee difference, that’s going to be a major factor in making a decision about which unis to apply to for any Scottish student. They’re faced with £9,000 a year extra, long (and often costly) travel, and a higher cost of living if they want to go to an institution south of the border, so it’s no surprise that the proportion of Scots is far lower than you might expect.”

Despite such considerations, the rise in applications has been widely welcomed by universities following concerns that, despite government assurances, applicants from underprivileged backgrounds would be put off applying for fear of debt.

An outreach facility, named The Northwest Centre for Science, has been set up as a result of a collaboration between Corpus Christi, Pembroke and the South Cheshire College. The centre aims to aid scientifically minded students from schools in the North West by providing them with vital skills to continue into higher education.

‘Imaging’ will be the scientific theme for the first year of the centre, which was launched in September.  It hopes to enhance the learning opportunities for students through a series of lectures given by teaching and research fellows from the University of Oxford and other top universities. These lectures will range from ‘Brain imagining’ to ‘Driverless cars’.

The new science centre will also give Year 12 students from Crewe and the surrounding area the opportunity to visit regional laboratories such as SuperSTEM at Daresbury Laboratories and even attend a summer camp at Corpus Christi College.

The first lecture in the series will be given by Professor Pete Nellist, Fellow and Tutor for Materials Science. He said he is“very excited about the opportunity to use university-based research activities as a resource that the Centre can use to enthuse and inform a new generation of scientists and to support them in their progression to higher education.”

“The Bridge of Sighs”, properly known as Hertford Bridge, celebrated its 100^th birthday on Saturday as Hertford College celebrated the centenary in style.

Around 140 former students, including BBC newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky, attended the celebrations, which began at midday with a lecture on reproductive biology by Dr Alison Woollard, and ended at 3am with a game of ‘ring of fire’ in the JCR.

Principal Will Hutton expressed his hope that the Principal at the time of building, Henry Boyd, would share his pride in the modern college a century on.

The afternoon event also featured the premier of a promotional film for the college, produced by BAFTA award-winning producer Anthony Geffen, showcasing the college’s liberal ethos.

Setting out his “vision for the future” to the gathered alumni, Hutton said of the film, “we are all liberal, with a small ‘l’. We were amongst the first wave of colleges to admit women; we have long championed open access to state schools”.

“When I first arrived here, I was told by the fellows that Hertford is a ‘middling’ college. Middling as in being in the centre of the city, middling in academic results, middling in pay. My intention in my tenure is to take Hertford well beyond ‘middling’,” Hutton added.

The festivities continued well into the evening including the “Rick Hutton Band”, the lead singer being the brother of Principal Hutton. One student volunteer who wished to remain unnamed told Cherwell, “watching Will Hutton dance to his brother’s band was like watching a giant lumber around the dance floor. He’s not very good, but bless him, he tries”.

The evening ended with a gathering of the remaining student volunteers, staff and alumni for a game of “ring of fire” in the JCR. One student volunteer, a recent graduate, said “I suppose you might call it post-drinking. It’s a celebration; everyone has worked hard to make the event a really momentous occasion to celebrate a century of the university’s most prominent landmark”.

The Hertford Bridge was constructed largely due to the efforts of Henry Boyd (Principal 1877-1922), who overcame significant opposition from both city and university authorities to realise his vision of a skyway linking the old and new quadrangles. Designed by TG Jackson, the acclaimed bridge was opened on 14th January 1914.