On Monday 23^rd April HRH the Duke of Kent officially opened the new quadrangles and buildings of Pembroke College.

The small college, located in the centre of Oxford, has undergone a great transformation after building new student accomodation, seminar and meeting rooms, a multi-purpose auditorium, a purpose-built art gallery, outdoor social spaces and a café. One of the most noteworthy additions is the over-street bridge, the first since the famous Bridge of Sighs. 

The footbridge passes over Brewer Street and adjoins the two new quads to Chapel Quad. It is the first over-street bridge built in over a century, the last to be constructed was the Bridge of Sighs of Hertford College. 

Giles Henderson, the Master of Pembroke, released an official statement, “This major extension of our main site will benefit members of Pembroke for years to come, as well as enhancing this area of Oxford for local residents and visitors. This development should be seen as an outward and visible sign of Pembroke’s increasing self-confidence and ambition.” 

The buildings were designed by architects Berman Guedes Stretton and funded by donations received from over 1,000 different people from more than 40 countries.

At the opening the Duke of Kent together with the Master crossed the bridge and attended a ceremony in the brand new Pichette Auditorium where he unveiled a plague signifying the occasion. The Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and the Lord Mayor of Oxford were also present.

Students are pleased with the result. Rebecca Henshaw, a 1st year student at Pembroke, when asked about the student accomodation, commented, “Yes the rooms are great, hotel-like in that they are clean white and modern with lovely bathrooms and luxuries such as heated towel rails.”

She added, “Students were somewhat hidden away from the ceremony but caught glimpses of royalty and many donors for the site yesterday morning. The hall resounded with thunderous applause in response to the opening and the porters seemed to be highly enjoying the ordeal!” 

David White, Pembroke’s JCR President, was also highly enthusiastic about the recent development, telling Cherwell, “The new buildings are an amazing addition to Pembroke. They represent the realisation of an ambitious vision for the College and they signal a fantastic enhancement of the Pembroke community.”

In particular he raved about Pembroke Bridge, commenting, “It’s like the Bridge of Sighs – but just far more modern and far more cool – it connects fabulously the old and the new at Pembroke. It unites the first and second year residents of Pembroke’s main site and makes this landmark development in the College’s history feel natural.”

Two Oxford University students, Benjamin Morrell and William Heywood, will be taking part in a 24 hour ‘Organathon’ in order to raise money for Christian Aid.

The ‘Organathon’ will take place in Trinity College Chapel between 9am and 9am on the 27th and 28th April (Saturday of 1st week to Sunday of 2nd).

Morrell, senior organ scholar at Trinity, and Heywood, an organ scholar at Harris Manchester, will be playing in 2 hour shifts throughout the 24 hour period.

Each hour will have a theme and some ofthe themes include Bach, French Romantic, hymns, English and improvisation. John Cage’s ‘As Slow As Possible’ will also be played over a two hour period.

When asked why Christian Aid was being supported specifically, Morrell said, “It fits in well with the instrument and setting of the event, as well as being a worthwhile charity which helps to alleviate poverty around the world.”

Morrell describes how he came up with the idea, “I had long hoped to attempt an Organathon as an alternative to continuous running and swimming events I had heard about, but had been persuaded to put the challenge aside until I could find another organist to help share the burden.”

Organs can become damaged if played continuously and hence there will be five minute intervals every few hours. There will be an audience at the 12:00 concert, which is part of the Trinity Parent’s Day programme.

The team hope to raise £500 and donations can be made on their justgiving.com page by Googling ‘Oxford Organathon’.

Last week President Atifete Jahjaga of Kosovo visited the University’s Blavatnik School of Government. The lecture, entitled “Kosovo’s Path to Statehood and its European Future”, was witnessed by officials, faculty, staff and some of the School’s first students.

The presidential visit follows an EU-brokered accord between Kosovo and Serbia, reached on Friday 19^th April, which aims to normalise relations between the states. Kosovo broke from Serbia in 1999 after the Kosovo War, and was overseen by the United Nations for nine years. In February 2008 it declared its independence and has been recognised as an independent state by 96 countries, Serbia not among them.

Relations with neighbouring Serbia were described as “cold and unfinished” by the President during her visit, but significant progress has been made with the recent EU agreement and a meeting between President Jahjaga and President Tomislav Nikoliq of Serbia in February.

President Jahjaga defined the five year old state as “a country that seeks to build its future without forgetting its difficult past”. The President spoke of the country’s success in moving on from violence and the measures being taken to establish mutual respect between Serbia and its former province. She explained that the country’s major problem of corruption and organised crime was being tackled by the creation of the National Anticorruption Council.

As the Balkan Region’s first female Head of State, President Jahjaga asserted that democracy requires “full engagement by all the layers of society”.

The Dean of the School, Professor Ngaire Woods, stated, “Here at the School, we talk a great deal about what true leadership requires.   President Jahjaga brought to life what this means in practical terms as a Head of State working to heal the wounds of a difficult past in her country. Everyone who attended her lecture was inspired by her commitment to create a transparent, stable and inclusive society for her people. We were honoured to have her deliver a Leadership Lecture at the Blavatnik School of Government.”

A representative of South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX) called the visit “particularly timely” in light of recent events, and continued to say that “The importance which Oxford attaches to South East Europe is demonstrated by the existence of SEESOX, which studies the region and holds a series of seminars and workshops on it. We invite readers of Cherwell to visit us.”

The Oxford University Facebook page has reached a million likes, taking just over five years to do so since its creation in 2008.

Oxford was also recently named one of the top 10 social-media savvy universities in the world – and top in the UK. 

Although its media presence falls behind some of its Ivy League competitors – Harvard University has garnered a total of more than 2.5 million Facebook likes, Oxford beats Cambridge, which falls behind with just under 360,000 likes on its Facebook page. American universities topped the league tables for their social media presence and the University of Sheffield was the only other British institution to feature in the top ten in a list compiled by social media consulting company, Sociagility.

The University has released a video to celebrate its burgeoning popularity on the social networking site, thanking its Facebook fans for their interest in and support for the university.  “Sometimesyou need to look beyond the human stories” the video suggests “and look at the numbers to understand a place like Oxford.”

An Oxford University spokesperson commented “The University uses as many channels to communicate with friends, alumni and potential students as possible, and is pleased so many people have found Oxford on Facebook, as well as on Twitter, where the University has more followers than any other UK university.”

The University’s Twitter account has over 66,000 followers.

One first-year student at Hertford said “All this shows is that, despite their reputation for academic success, Oxford students are just as prone as any others to wasting their time on Facebook.”

Another Hertford student commented “This is certainly something to celebrate but it’s important for the University not to go too far in its quest for Facebook popularity: if it starts posting posed selfies on its news feed, I think we should be worried. “

Even some Cambridge students were impressed, albeit bitter, at Oxford’s significantly greater popularity on the social networking site. Cambridge first-year student Neethu Mariam told Cherwell “Although this news does make me resentful, I am tempted to find excuses for Oxford’s apparent popularity, perhaps rooted in more promotion of its Facebook page or a ‘technical glitch’ on Cambridge’s page. However, even I can see why Oxford is so loved!”

Research conducted by Lord Adonis suggests that Nissan apprenticeships have become more competitive than a place at Oxford University.

The report, “More and Better Jobs: North-East International” revealed that with 1,000 applications for 20 places, the candidate’s chance of success is just 2%.

By contrast, Oxford receives on average 17,200 applications for 3,200 places, giving an approximately 18% chance of a place. In fact, in recent years, Oxford has seen a slight decline in applications – down 5% from 2010 to 2011.

However, as well as highlighting the quality of the apprenticeship programme offered by Nissan, these statistics also draw attention to a lack of opportunities in the vocational sector. Adonis commented that “Nissan’s apprenticeship programme is regarded as one of the best in the country so you would expect to see it oversubscribed, but it is scandalous that so few apprenticeship places are available at companies across this region.”

He hopes to create 13,000 apprenticeships in the North-East every year in order to “get young people on the road to a job, not the road to the dole.” His research focused specifically on the North-East: he is keen to see a higher proportion of the population going on the higher education as well as vocational work.

Claiming that these internships are harder than Oxford University could be a controversial statement. However, on closer inspection, it seems that they were a provocative statement rather than a genuine comparison between the two institutions. His allegation that “The competition for places is unbelievably fierce, more even than for Oxford University’ is more to do with numbers than application process.

Quality and quantity are not necessarily synonymous, as confirmed by Adam Tyndell, Lord Adonis’s Assistant who alleged that “Andrew was referring to the number of applicants per place, only.”

Jonathon Metzer, Co-Chair of Oxford University Labour Club, was supportive of Adonis’ research. “Lord Adonis is absolutely right to highlight the need to expand apprenticeships so that there are clear pathways to success for less academically-inclined people and I strongly hope that his ideas will gather cross-party support.”

Metzer also confirmed that Adonis will be speaking at the OULC on Monday of 3rd Week.