Oxford University is encouraging potential Indian students not to be put off by changes to Visa regulations that mean fewer international students will be able to stay in the country after graduating.

The new rules mean that only those who have found work with a recognised employer will be allowed to stay on in the country after finishing their courses.

There are 350 Indian students currently studying at Oxford, and most of them are post graduates. The immigration minister Damian Green estimates that around 70,000 fewer student visas would be issued next year due to the recent changes.

Arghya Sengupta, president of Oxford’s 150 year old Indian Society, described the changes as “too drastic,” criticising what he sees as the “intellectually lazy approach” of “a blanket ban.” He suggested that “a more targeted immigration policy is desirable” and argued that Indian students “contribute to the British economy rather than hinder it”.

Students from outside the EU bring 9 billion pounds to the British economy each year as well as much needed revenue to universities. Sengupta added that he believed that the new policy means “several Indian students will re-assess their options regarding joining a British university”.

A spokesperson for Oxford University stated that the issue is one that affects all international students, not just Indians. The spokesperson said, “We would certainly encourage international students to continue to apply” and added that the University is confident that “students will continue to see the high value of an Oxford education.”

Despite the fact that international students will find it more difficult to find work in the UK, the spokesperson stressed the fact that “the high-level skills and knowledge students obtain at Oxford will give graduates a head start in any country.”

Prajwal Parajuly, an Indian student echoed this more positive outlook as “the kind of students” Oxford attracts would not be “discouraged to apply simply because of changes in the visa rules”.

Other universities are also worried about the changes. Umbrella group Universities UK commented, ‘We think some legitimate students may be being put off by the changes,” yet warned, “The message must be that the UK remains open to legitimate international students.”

OUSU is to show the 2011 American documentary film Miss Representation in Exam Schools on Saturday. The screening will be accompanied by the launch of the Lead for Equality network, described as “a collection of students who want to make steps towards political equality, together.”

Several stalls representing Oxford’s various political groups will also form part of the event. The film at the centre of the afternoon is said to concern “how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in influential positions by circulating limited and often disparaging portrayals of women.” It features interviews with high profile names, such as Condolezza Rice and TV personality Lisa Ling.

An advert for the event stated, “This is where change starts. Join us and be educated, inspired, motivated, and challenged on the issue of political equality in representation – in Oxford University and beyond. “This documentary is guaranteed to widen eyes. Think Michael Moore, think Morgan Spurlock, then times by ten: ‘Miss Representation’ is a comprehensive and demonstrative exploration of why the fight for equality is sill far from over,” it continued.

The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and has reportedly led to “an important and high profile education campaign in the US.”

Saturday’s event starts at 1:15pm, and tickets cost £4.

A new collaboration between the Bodleian and Vatican libraries will see 1.5 million pages of treasured ancient texts brought into the 21st century.

The new four-year project, funded by a £2 million award from the Polonsky foundation, will make texts freely available online to the general public and researchers. Online material is set to include manuscripts from Homer and Plato, and what is believed to be the earliest Hebrew codex.

Sarah Thomas, Bodley’s librarian, said that the digitisation project would “transcend the limitations of time and space” and would allow scholars to “interrogate the texts with fresh approaches” by bringing together texts that have previously been dispersed.

Dr Leonard Polonsky, founder of the Polonsky Foundation that has supported the Bodleian’s previous digitisation projects, explained that “21st century technology provides the opportunity for collaborations between cultural institutions in the way they manage and make available the knowledge and expertise they hold.”

Monsignor Cesare Pasini, the Prefect of the Vatican Library, also recognised the importance of increasing the accessibility of key texts, saying that with the joint initiative, “Two Libraries will continue to accomplish their mission for the benefit of science and culture.”

Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at St Cross College told Cherwell, “It’s always good to see custodians of precious manuscripts making primary sources widely available for general readers beyond the specialists in universities and to see two of the world’s greatest and oldest libraries co-operating as Bodley and the Vatican have done, is particularly cheering’.

Students have also backed the view that the digitisation project would prove beneficial to everybody and not just specialists. Becky Jowsey, 1st year Philosophy and Theology student at Keble College, said that the collaboration could help solve problems caused by differing textual interpretations, adding that ‘by giving people access to the original texts in an easy-to-use, familiar digital format, we give people the tools to turn negative disagreement into positive dialogue by giving them new resources’.

Jack Andrews, 2nd year Theology student at Mansfield College warned Cherwell that the project ‘may not be as revealing as Dan Brown fans would like to imagine’ although ‘it will be very interesting to see what new approaches to ancient texts emerge as a result.’

A student campaigner, who set up a charity to deal with eating disorders, has been chosen to carry the Olympic Torch through part of Oxford. Nicola Byrom, a 24 year old PHD student, began the charity ‘Student Run Self Help’ (SRSH) which helps those with eating disorders by “enabling to run safe and effective self help groups” within their universities.

Byrom suffered from an eating disorder herself, and “following work running a self help group for B-eat, was keen to develop a system to engage university students in running self help groups”, the website of SRSH explains.

Set up in 2009, the charity now operates at 14 universities throughout Britain, it has helped a total of 200 students within the last year. Byrom is one of only 3 people from Oxford University to be put forward for nomination, and on a national level, she will be one of 8000 carefully selected individuals. The bearers are chosen to carry the Olympic torch because of their inspirational work in their chosen field.

On the 9th July Nicola will be fulfilling 300 metres of the torch’s seventy day long itinerary across Britain, starting at Land’s End and ending in the Olympic Stadium. It is hoped that the Olympic Flame will come within ten miles of the 95% of people in the UK, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey, celebrating the achievements of individuals such as Byrom in their local area.

“It’s great to see the Olympics being used to highlight issues that affect the world at large, as well as ways in which to tackle them” said Hugh Jeffery, a student at Wadham.

Cameron Cook (Lincoln College) also supported the University’s decision to use its prestige to bring such issues to the fore, both within the University itself and in the wider public sphere.

For more information about Student Run Self Help visit:

http://studentrunselfhelp.weebly.com/who-are-we.html

A suspected sex trafficking ring in Oxford was far larger than previously feared, according to police.

Reports suggest that as many as 50 young girls have come forward claiming to have been exploited, following the high profile arrests of thirteen Oxford residents last month.

It was originally thought there were 24 victims, aged between 11 and 16 years, but more girls have since contacted the police alleging they were also abused.

Thames Valley Police have also made two more arrests in connection with the ongoing inquiry, bringing the total to 15 people.

A 39 year old man was arrested on Tuesday 10th April on suspicion of grooming and has been released on police bail until 10 May. He was out of the country when officers made the original arrests on 22 March.

A 40 year old woman was arrested on Wednesday 11th April on suspicion of grooming but was released without charge.

The news follows Operation Bullfinch, led by Thames Valley Police and assisted by Oxfordshire County Council, which revealed that a “criminal gang” of had groomed, drugged and raped vulnerable individuals over a period of six years. Thirteen men were arrested.

Esther Davidson, from the group Oxford Community Against Trafficking said, “The essential thing to realise is that human trafficking and sexual exploitation are happening on an appalling scale – not just in places like Eastern Europe or Cambodia, but in towns and cities right across Britain. We are not immune. Members of our society are involved.

“But because this is a hidden crime, we all need to keep our eyes open.  If you are concerned that someone might be being coerced into exploitation, you can tell Crimestoppers safely and anonymously. The good news is that anyone can make a difference. And students have a particular role to play in raising awareness.  We need every creative way of waking people up.”

OUSU’s Vice President for women, Yuan Yang, added, “Sex trafficking and forced prostitution stem from treating people as objects, not as humans. We can all stand against sexual violence by making sure to demonstrate respect to other human beings in our own lives. This can be as simple as making sure that people we have sex with are fully consenting, or as courageous as calling someone out on a sexually abusive joke.”

Last month Oxford residents Zehsan Ahmed, Kamar Jamil, Akhtar Dogar, Anjum Dogar, Mohammed Karrar and Bassan Karrar were all charged for crimes relating to child explotation.

The other seven men who had previously been arrested and bailed in connection with the inquiry answered their bail on Thursday 12th April and it has been extended until 7 June.

Famed stand-up comedian and television presenter Dara O’Briain has teamed up with Oxford’s Professor Marcus du Sautoy in his latest television programme. The new show, School of Hard Sums, airs Mondays at 8pm on Dave and uses maths, science and logic to solve real-world problems. It claims to present science in an interesting and accessible way and O’Briain believes there is a growing movement that is “tired of nonsense-peddlers” which will be interested in a program focusing on “the language of reason and rationality.”

Despite his comedic presence, O’Briain does not expect to be able to make science ‘cool’ and conceded to Radio Times that the show is a “weird punt” that might later be referred to as “Dara’s folly”. However, he was confident that it would find its niche. O’Briain studied Maths and Theoretical Physics at University College, Dublin and will use his “rusty” skills alongside Professor du Sautoy, Oxford’s Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, in breaking down these everyday puzzles.

Neither host is new to this type of science-oriented program. Dara O’Briain recently hosted the BBC program Stargazing Live, appearing alongside renowned scientist and television presence Brian Cox. Professor du Sautoy, meanwhile, presented the BBC’s The Code last year, a three-part documentary about “maths in the world around us.”

Even away from television, du Sautoy is no stranger to using maths pragmatically. Earlier this year, he led a series of projects which aimed to show the hidden maths behind Oxford’s buildings, while last year, he reached the semi-final of the world rock-paper-scissors championship using the decimal expansion of pi.

Some of his latest show’s mystifying conundrums include the finding the optimum angle to jump into a river and save a drowning man, as well as how to maximise your number of pizza slices if you are only allowed to cut it three times. Logic is also used to deduce which door to pass through in the event of a choice between the exit and certain death.

The first program explored how a constellation could be created with four stars equidistant from one another, while the next showed how to efficiently pave the way for mollycoddled cows keen to keep their feet clean. The Oxford student body seems excited by this attempt to broaden interest in the field of science and mathematics. Dale Rout, a first-year Mathematics student at St Peter’s College commented: “Maths is more accessible than a lot of people think and Dara is really funny so I reckon it’ll be pretty successful.”

Each show in the eight-part series approaches a particular theme and will also include appearances from comedy guests, including Alex Horne, David O’Doherty, Simon Evans and Jason Byrne.

The quality of Oxford’s quads and lawns could be severely affected this term as college gardeners are faced with a hosepipe ban.

The ban was brought in on 5th April in order to combat the drought currently plaguing much of England, which over the past few days has spread beyond the Southeast of the country to affect as many as twenty million people. The Environment Agency has warned that restrictions may last until Christmas.

An investigation carried out by Cherwell last year revealed that 50% of the eighteen colleges questioned employ sprinkler systems to water their lawns. Of these, several obtain water through natural means, such as by collecting rainwater, or, as in the case of Worcester, by redistributing water from the lake over the quads.

A number of these colleges, including Jesus and St John’s, specified that their sprinkler systems were not “plumbed in”, but were rather used only when required. Nevertheless, all such colleges will be forced to find other ways to water their quads as the dry summer approaches.

The University Parks Department maintains the gardens of a number of colleges, including Exeter, Oriel and Brasenose. Walter Sawyer, the superintendent of the University Parks, said that the ban would be strictly adhered to. “There simply won’t be any watering with hose pipes and sprinklers on any of the established sites that we manage. The drought order is very clear [in that] it does not permit watering in established gardens using these techniques”.

When asked how he intended to keep the lawns looking pristine, he pointed to the legality of methods such as the watering can, bowser, or water tank. He also acknowledged the Parks’ fortunate position, in that “few colleges have any water collection facilities. We have some large underground rainwater collecting water tanks in the Parks that will supply some of [the] needs here”.

Bruce Taylor, the head gardener at University College, commented, “Obviously for the foreseeable future we will not be using [the sprinkler system], and so the lawns will not be watered.”

However, he remained optimistic as to the state of the lawns. Whilst conceding that “a green lawn looks far superior to a brown one”, he stated that “grass is the most resilient of plants and lengthy droughts are unlikely to kill it. If we do have moist conditions over the summer then there are chemicals that we can apply just to green it up a bit”.

Despite the efforts clearly being made to maintain lawns, certain students at University College remain unimpressed. A first year student said that he was “disgusted” at the prospect of brown lawns, and concerns were also raised as to the effects of discoloured lawns upon potential applicants at the July open days.

A New College cricketer questioned the impact that the ban may have on sports fields. He argued, “The Parks wouldn’t be the same without its lush, green outfield; anything less just isn’t cricket.”

Jules Ginsberg, an undergraduate at St Catherine’s College, was more conciliatory. She commented, “It’s unfortunate that during croquet season the lawns will be less green,” yet conceded, “I do think that a hosepipe ban is necessary in light of the drought. However, if ever there was a time to let it rain on our parade, that time would be now.”

The People’s Supermarket, a project inspired by a Channel 4 programme, is set to open in Cowley this summer.

The aim is to bring “good quality local food to Oxford at a great price,” said founder Chris Waites.

He added, “It’s a normal supermarket but the prices are much much cheaper. And it will have a nice community feel to it.”

The supermarket’s motto is “For the people, by the people”, and it will be run and owned by members of the community. Shoppers can opt to pay a £12 annual membership for a stake in the project whilst the store will be staffed by volunteers who get a 20% discount in return.

With low running costs and by dealing directly with local producers, Waites expects his community-run supermarket to be about a third cheaper than Tesco on an average shop.

“I currently run Community Grocer which delivers groceries to the elderly,” said the social entrepreneur, “and to be honest it has surprised me how easy it is to undercut Tesco by dealing directly with local producers.”

Waite explained, “This is about making people feel valued and offering a fair deal to local farmers. It also keeps money in the local economy.

Cheaper prices are not Waite’s only motivation. The project is designed to be a non-profit organisation and surplus will be reinvested into local projects and training.

“So far everything is going very well” said the founder. The lease has been agreed, relationships with local suppliers have been established and people have expressed interest in membership.

Doireann Lalor, Sustainability Officer at the Turl Street Kitchen, said that the TSK staff are all “very excited” about the new supermarket.

“We are all going to the opening meeting next Wednesday,” she said. One of the Turl Street Kitchen’s suppliers, Cultivate, is also looking to get involved.

The members launch will take place next week at seven o’clock in Cowley Road Methodist Church. Chris Waites expects to get the food from field to shop in a matter of hours using special vans which run on recycled vegetable oil.

Another of Waite’s priorities is tackling waste. “I think it is nothing short of a national scandal that the big four supermarkets throw away 300,000 tons of food per year.”

Of the big four, only Sainsbury’s publishes its food waste figures. The supermarket generated 44,000 tonnes of food waste in 2011. However retailers point out that their food waste is proportionately small compared to the British consumer. As a nation we throw away more than 7 million tonnes annually.

Speaking to Channel 4, Bob Rutland of the British Retailer’s Association said, ‘Retailers wouldn’t deliberately overstock and deliberately throw food away. That would be a cost to their business and they’re trying very hard to minimise those costs from the outset to remain competitive.”

Chris Waiten said that he aims to be different, explaning, “We are a zero food waste supermarket.” Surplus or damaged produce will be cooked into ready meals, juices and cakes in the in-store kitchen.

He added, “Quite simply, I want to change the way we shop for food in Oxford for good.”

Student Fiona Potter, who works part time in a fair-trade shop , called The People’s Supermarket “interesting new way of supplying the community’.

‘Next year I’ll be living out in Cowley and as a student I’m always on the lookout for good deals, so this sound great,” she added.

Anna Ssembuya, a student from Exeter College was also enthusiastic about the idea. She said, “Vegetables especially are often very expensive in supermarkets, which as a vegetarian can sometimes be a problem. This would be amazing.”

“Hap-pea days,” she concluded.