Finalists have issued formal complaints to the Proctors Office about disruptions caused by intermittent drilling just outside Examination Schools.

On Tuesday morning, English Finalists sitting their Middle English Paper were left unable to concentrate as loud drilling took place on the High Street. The English students were taking the second of their seven examinations when the silence of the hall was disturbed by the sounds of “lots of reversing trucks” and “loud drilling”.
Staff at the Examination Schools attempted to stop the roadworks taking place but their requests were ignored by the workmen. As a result, Finalists had to cope with the off-putting noise for the duration of the three-hour exam.

Ché Ramsden, who was taking the Middle English Paper, said, “The drilling stopped and started all through the exam, which made it really hard to concentrate and remain focussed. It was really hot that day and so all the windows were open, which didn’t help. The noise just flooded the room.”

At the end of the exam, students were told by the main invigilator that the examiners would be made aware of the circumstances.

Ramsden added, “The examiner in the room seemed really sympathetic. I assume that if it was something planned in advance then the Proctors would have made themselves aware of what was happening outside Exam Schools during this period, and we would have been informed.”

Responding to student anger about the noise levels, the University has stated that it has no authority over the roadworks being done by the Oxford County Council. The roadworks were supposed to have finished before the exam season, but since they have fallen behind schedule the University is unable to control the levels of noise during exams in the Examination Schools.

In normal circumstances, the University tries to ensure that roadworks do not disrupt exams. However, in this case, unanticipated changes to the schedule for the roadworks meant that the University was only notified at the very last minute.
The High Street roadworks are part of a “Major Project of Improvement” by the County Council. They have been going on since summer 2009, and were due to be finished by 6 May 2010, but are behind schedule. The Council was unavailable to comment at this time.

The University has assured students that it understands that there will not be further disruptions but declined to comment further.

However, the main concerns surround the affected English students and the future marking of their exam papers. The University currently has no official policy on road noise and the University Proctors are currently investigating the problems caused by the drilling.

One finalist, Alexandra Hedges, told Cherwell that she had been unaffected by the noise during her exam but agreed that it had been a problem for others.

She said, “I think I’m the only person in the whole hall who didn’t notice the drilling. I seem to have developed the ability to zone out when I’m working – no one could believe I hadn’t heard it, especially as I was by the window!”

For others, the sporadic sounds of drilling added significantly to the stress of the exam experience. Among many finalists, there is concern that the roadworks placed added pressure on their ability to perform well. While one said that the roadworks had been “disturbing”, another said that the noise was “really annoying”.

A spokesperson for the University Proctors said that they were looking into the complaints made by the students but were unable to comment further.

This week Ross Evans stood down from his position, only six months into his role as Jesus’s JCR President.

Evans said that a combination of factors had lead to his decision. “It was the right thing to do. It works for me, for the JCR and for everyone involved. Hopefully stepping down will mean a line is drawn under that and the new President can have a fresh start.”

Evans also commented that he wanted to spend more time on his academic work and do it at his own pace. When asked if he regretted becoming JCR President he said, “No, not at all. I wouldn’t change it at all.”

Evans stressed that in no way did the College force him to step down. He added, “I spoke to a range of people about it and there was a consensus. I am really going to miss it (although maybe not waking up to a barrage of emails every day).”

Elections for the position took place on Thursday, although there was only one candidate. The current acting President, Alex Mohan, stood unopposed.

Ross Evans praised Mohan, saying, “I’m sure he’ll do a brilliant job.” Mohan did not wish to comment on Ross Evans’ decision to step down.

Rishi Patel, a second year linguist at Jesus, expressed surprise that Evans had chosen to step down now. “It’s interesting that he chose to step down last week, just a few short days before he was due to help write a report concerning our college’s plan to increase the cost of rent. This was something he’d been fighting against quite passionately.”

Jesus rent fees are set to rise by 8.5% this year. This is the seventh consecutive year that Jesus have raised their College fees. Patel said that Evans had, “put a lot of effort into the job, and really did everything he could to fight for members of the JCR.”

Izzy Lever, a first year English student, also regretted that Evans decided to relinquish the presidency. “Ross was an excellent president, it is a pity that he has stood down.  He fought hard on behalf of the JCR.  I guess the decision is a personal one at the end of the day.”

The College declined to comment on the matter.

This week, plans got underway that would see Oxford University twinned with the Palestinian University Al-Quds in East Jerusalem.

Following a conference hosted earlier in the month by Oxford Society for Medicine (OSM), called “Healthcare under Siege”, plans were made to twin Oxford with Al-Quds University.
The twinning project would give Oxford students the possibility of studying electives in Al-Quds Univeristy, allow for a greater share of resources between the medical schools, and establish of a long term relationship between the two universities.

Proponents of this twinning initiative also hope to set up a scholarship to fund postgraduate studies of Gazan students.

Omar Abdel-Mannan, President of OSM said “We have the support of a number of top people in the Oxford Medical School”. Abdel-Mannan hopes to generate support within the student body for the twinning initiative, then present the case to the dean of clinical studies.

A former St Peter’s student who committed suicide has been awarded a posthumous degree by the college.

Stockbroker Anjool Maldé was 24 when he jumped off the roof of an exclusive London restaurant last summer. Mr Maldé had been under investigation by Deutsche Bank for posting prank messages on a financial website. 

Maldé read Geography at St Peter’s College. Since his death, friends of Mr Maldé  have announced plans for an endowment in Anjool’s memory with a target initial amount of £20,000 to fund an annual scholarship of £800 to be awarded to an Oxford student.

St Peter’s college said in a statement: “Mr Maldé was clearly destined to develop a distinguished career in whatever he turned his hand to and it is therefore particularly tragic that his life was cut so short.”  

As well as awarding him the degree, St Peter’s also hosted a memorial tea for Mr Malde.

On Sunday evening Lincoln JCR passed a motion specifying the course of action to be taken in the case of an alien attack.

The motion passed, although an amendment was made which included a raptor attack as another situation in which the contingency plan would be effected.

The motion proposed that two tins of baked beans should be stored in the JCR kitchen to sustain the JCR in the case of invasion. Members of the JCR Committee are to be allocated ‘JCR weapons’ to fight off any invaders, with the President receiving a ‘JCR bat.’
Richard De Vere, who proposed the raptor amendment said that he did not wish to comment on his decision for fear of raptor reprisal.

JCR President James Meredith said, “It is great to be prepared. I’m especially grateful to Richard for alerting us to the possibilities of dinosaurs.”

The motion specified that all those with surnames beginning with ‘A’ to ‘M’ should attempt to make peace with the aliens, or raptors, whereas those with surnames beginning with ‘N’ to ‘Z’ should attempt to fight them off.

The motion was brought forward by Meredith, following an enquiry by Cherwell into the rumored existence of a contingency plan for alien invasion. This was not the case at the time, but prompted Meredith to propose it.  “I’m very pleased that Cherwell brought this to our attention,” he said.

A second motion passed during the meeting which recognised student Will Chamberlain’s tortoise, James Bond, as the official Lincoln tortoise.  Bond will also receive training for the annual tortoise race.

Will Chamberlain said, “It is great that James Bond finally has the backing of the JCR.  James will be trained hard in the coming year so that he can secure a solid win next Trinity.”

Savitri Tan, a first year linguist, expressed her pleasure that these issues of possible attack were being taken seriously. “With the changing nature of society and the fact that we will soon have a permanent tortoise, every possible eventuality must be catered for.”

Oxford City Council is proposing a crackdown on student accommodation which is likely to result in a freeze in the number of available student houses in Oxford East. Other student accomodation will become subject to spot-checks. 

The Council plans to introduce new system whereby every landlord wishing to rent to students must apply for a licence. However it has also announced that it plans to refuse all planning permission applications for proposed student houses in Oxford East. Since these applications are a legal necessity for the licence to be obtained, this means that no houses there which are not already used by students will be able to be converted.

If the proposals are accepted, houses where three or more unrelated people live together, known as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), will also be subject to spot checks by the council. They will set standards for student accommodation and revoke licences from landlords whose properties are not up to scratch.

The new initiative will affect around 5,000 properties across the city. The consultation concerning HMOs will be completed next month and it is expected to turn out in favour of the proposals.

New legislation introduced in April means that those who want to convert their properties into HMOs will have to seek planning permission.

While landlords who already own HMOs will not have to apply for planning permission, the Council have said they will not give planning permission for any proposed HMOs in the East Oxford HMO planning area.

One local landlord said that she has not been able to obtain planning permission to convert a property in East Oxford into student accommodation, leaving four students potentially homeless next year.

She said, “We are in legal limbo. I have a contract with these students which the Council is making it impossible for me to fulfill. Since the change in legislation came too late for my prospective tenants to find anywhere else to live next year, I can only hope that common sense prevails at the Council and we are at least allowed to work through pre-existing arrangements.” 

Students are concerned that lack of housing could push rents up and make finding a place to live harder.

One second year student at St. Hilda’s said, “At lots of colleges you have to live out for at least a year. Finding somewhere to live is hard enough as it is, as competition is so fierce for the best properties. Rent is already too high and I’m worried properties close to town will be too expensive now.” 

However, the council insists the main objective of the plan is not to force students out. Oxford City Council’s health development manager Ian Wright said, “The main intention is to improve conditions within the properties and improve the management of them by the landlord.”

Wright did admit to the Observer newspaper that “studentification” in Oxford is a problem, saying, “A lot of local residents have been quite alarmed about how studentification has affected their community. We know it’s been one of the top topics on the doorstep for local councillors.” 

Second year Modern Languages student James Mead welcomes the crackdown. He said, “I think this is a great idea. I’m very lucky in terms of my landlord – he is obviously keen to maintain his property for us and ultimately for himself in the long run.

“I do, however, have friends who are treated very badly by landlords who never bother to reply to complaints or questions. They live in run down properties which are not maintained and not are fit for renting but students have no other choice. Giving the council such powers can only be positive in my eyes.” 

Despite the harsh economic climate, the numbers of Oxford graduates facing unemployment remains unchanged, though Oxford’s post-graduate leavers are struggling to find paid work.

These findings will be announced in the annual Destinations of Leavers report (DLHE), which is due to be released later this term. According to the report “Undergraduates bucked the national trends with fewer unemployed, fewer going to further study, and more employed”.

The report will demonstrate that levels of unemployment among graduates from the class of 2009 remains unchanged when compared with the previous year. This is despite recent graduates being amongst those worse hit by unemployment levels, which are now at their worst state for 15 years, with 2.51 million graduates out of work. Across the country, young graduates in particular are suffering as employers have chosen to reduce their workforces by halting recruitment.

Yet the DLHE indicates that 5% of the class of 2008 are unemployed, a slight reduction upon the previous year, when 6.1% of graduates had either not continued with studies or had been unable to find paid employment. The data also reveals that 45% of students continued to take further study, which compares to 48% the previous year.
Most surprising is the slight rise in the number of leavers securing paid work – up from 42% to 44%.

Director of the Careers Service, Jonathan Black, commented on the statistics: “Oxford graduates, along with students from Cambridge and LSE, are somewhat insulated against the recession. They’re always at the top of the list for corporate employers.”

The comparisons made by the report do not, however, account for the fact that the effects of the recession were also being felt in 2008. The number of graduates from the class of 2008 who had failed to secure work and were not engaged in study had already increased by 63% when compared with the previous year.

Mr Black conceded that students can no longer afford to be as picky as in previous years: “You can’t be quite as fixed – Oxford graduates don’t have the luxury they used to. But things are picking up and the numbers of employers approaching is the same as usual.”

The Director of the Careers Service encouraged students to adopt a flexible approach, and to look upon future employment “as part of a progressive career path, not just a job”.

He did, however, criticise the increased emphasis which is now being placed on graduate internships arguing, “Internships are for undergraduates. Once you have graduated it is time for a job, simple as that”. Earlier this year Mr Black publicly spoke out against a government scheme which proposed funding for thousands more graduate internships.

However, the experiences of recent graduates suggest that an Oxbridge degree is no longer the golden ticket it once was. Alex Parker, a former music student who graduated in 2009 managed to get a job offer after a tiresome eight months and a total 108 applications.

He said, “I don’t honestly think that my Oxford degree put me at a distinct advantage when it came to most of the jobs I applied to. I believe this was due to the recession levelling the playing field. People who had done more vocational type degrees that had some sort of practical experience that was relevant to the job tended to be much more favoured by employers, although they all admitted that Oxford students were better educated.

“My main difficulty was to demonstrate why I had studied the degree I studied (music) and then transferred to a job area that bore no relevance to my degree (accountancy). It’s very easy for students to become complacent. Once Oxford students think they have a significant advantage because of their academic pedigree, their chances of getting a job they want dramatically diminishes unless they can prove that they have got their hands dirty.”

Another Oxford graduate agreed “I think that it is harder to get some of the desirable jobs that most Oxford students want as there are fewer around in a recession, but it’s also very hard to get very crap jobs (again, fewer) so in many respects Oxford students have it much harder in a recession. The most common feedback I had from jobs was that I was ‘over-qualified and under experience.'”

Those hoping to continue studying have also felt the effects of the financial climate as the competitive job market has provoked a marked rise in the popularity of post-graduate courses. Francis Wynne, a former Classics student and one of the 25% of Oxford graduates pursuing a career in education, is currently studying for a PGCE at Kings College London. He was more satisfied that his Oxford qualification stood him in good stead.

He said, “I think the Oxford degree did help me to secure a place on the Kings PGCE, not because of any ‘prestige’ value that comes with it, but definitely insofar as the rigours of the Oxford course ensured my subject knowledge was strong. In a year when institutions can afford to be especially discerning in their intake it did serve a practical purpose.”

The recent surge in the volume of applications made to post-graduate courses has been felt at Oxford where the number of applicants rose from 13,551 last year to 17,510 for this academic year. The figures indicate that for the first time, the number of post-graduate applications received has outweighed the total number of students applying to the University’s undergraduate courses.

The University’s DLHE report suggests that post-graduate leavers do, however, still face hard times. A comparison of those post-graduates who finished in 2009 with those who left the previous year indicates that higher numbers remain either unemployed or opt for further study, while fewer have secured paid employment.
The Oxford’s Careers Service now aims to increase its ‘marketing effort’ in order to stimulate student engagement. Data tracking the usage of the Service shows huge discrepancy in the types of students visiting the service, which is less than half as popular with post-graduates as it is with undergraduates.

The university has vetoed OUSU proposals to up shop from Bonn Square and move operations to a property on George Street, which OUSU President Stefan Baskerville claimed “would have cost less money, was in a better location and in better condition.”

OUSU has argued that its present home is “ill-suited” to its purposes. Of the its three floors, only two are functional and there is no disabled access. The building, occupied by OUSU since 2002, is also highly inefficient in its energy use.

A spokesperson for the University, which pays the rent on OUSU’s offices, claimed that the axing of the project was part of a moratorium on capital projects in the current financial climate. He said, “It would have required significant expenditure for OUSU to move to new premises.

“The University leases its current premises from a landlord, and moving out would have required restoration of the premises to their initial state – removing many of the alterations that have been made in the meantime. The cost of this (dilapidations costs) was estimated at being at least £100,000. Removal costs and adapting the new premises for OUSU use would have cost a further £80,000.

“It may have been that the rent for the new premises may have worked out a bit cheaper than the current rent for Thomas Hull House, but the expense of the other costs meant the move was not approved.”

Baskerville acknowledged that the University’s moratorium had been “responsible for delaying a fair number of capital projects across the University so we were not being unusually treated in that regard.”
This academic year the student union expects to expend £129,095 on building costs; in terms of their projected total expenditure, this works out at 30%.

An OUSU document – ‘Urgent Challenges’ – notes, “OUSU spends an excessive proportion of its income on costs associated with its premises. Most charities would be criticised for spending such a large proportion of their income on premises.”

Baskerville confirmed that moving out of OUSU Towers remains a long-term ambition for the union. “We think it is hugely important that OUSU’s building is accessible to all students, that the space is suitable, that premises costs are as low as possible, and that OUSU is better located.”

It is the University’s intention to support OUSU in this. Its spokesperson stated, “Thomas Hull House is not the best premises for OUSU. The university is seeking to negotiate the shortest possible lease renewal and will continue to work with OUSU to identify suitable, accessible and less expensive alternative premises.”

Brasenose JCR President Paul Gladwell said, “The refusal will certainly limit OUSU’s attempts to offer a wider array of services, with the current venue being small and decrepit with significant accessibility problems. Without larger premises, welfare or educational events numbers are naturally limited, restricting the efficiency of hosting events of these kinds.”

Mae Penner, OUSU Officer for Magdalen JCR, criticised the University’s refusal to fork out on the move: “As the representative body for Oxford students, accessibility to students is vital in order for OUSU to operate effectively. Unfortunately the lack of wheelchair access and the high rent being paid for partially unusable space in the current premises have compromised OUSU’s ability to serve its members as well as it should.

“Money which could be spent on students is instead being spent on unsuitable and ill-located office space. It is disappointing that the University does not seem to share OUSU’s outlook on this issue.”

Baskerville, however, refuted this view, He said, “Relations between OUSU and the University are good and have improved during the course of this year, even if we disagree over the decision to keep OUSU in Thomas Hull House for the time being. The University recognises that OUSU needs to change premises, I just think it needs to be treated as a more urgent priority.”