All students and staff who lose their University card from the 1st August 2010 will be charged a replacement fee of £10.

Charges for replacement University cards are not new, but the University Card Office is intending on becoming “more robust in its charging policy”.

A spokesperson from the University said, “It is standard practice in universities to charge a fee to cover the costs of replacing cards”.

The replacement fees are to cover administration costs. Each year, approximately 2,300 replacement cards are produced.

Payment will be made through the University of Oxford Online Store. Cardholders who provide evidence that their card has been stolen will not be required to pay for a replacement card, but they will need to present a police incident number.

Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros has pledged $US 5 million to fund a new economics institute at Oxford.

This amount was put forward by Soros’ think-tank, The Institute for New Economic Thinking (Inet). It will be part of the James Martin 21st Century School for graduate level study of Economics. The school’s founder, Dr James Martin, has matched Inet’s figure.

Together, they aim to develop a five-year programme of research that will address recent failures in economic theory and practice.

The centre at Oxford is the first of many that Mr. Soros hopes to set up at leading universities across the world, including Princeton and Columbia in the USA.

Inet’s director, Mr Robert Johnson, said, “The economic crisis and the failure of economists to predict it and protect society illustrate that economics as a profession needs to re-earn its reputation and regain its mantle of expertise.”

The new institute, as yet unnamed, will take a broad and interdisciplinary approach to economic theory, utilising history, psychology and natural science as well as traditional mathematical modeling.

Current students have welcomed news of the new institute. Emma King, a first-year Economics and Management student, said, “You can’t help but be excited by the prospect of a lot of funding for a new Economics school in Oxford. The fact that the new institute will attempt to challenge existing economic theory has to be a good thing as most recent funding has been rooted in researching existing economic thought.”

OUSU Academic Affairs Officer, Jonny Medland, praised the philanthropic nature of the funding. He commented, “Donations play an increasingly important role in Oxford’s development and George Soros’ generosity will help ensure that Oxford stays on the cutting edge of economic thinking… This sort of research is only possible as a result of donations.”

This was a view echoed by Dr Ian Goldin, director of the James Martin 21st Century School, who commented, “This new institute will benefit from linking up with some of the best minds at Oxford. I am excited that, due to the vision and generosity of George Soros and James Martin, we will be developing an interdisciplinary team of world-class academics.”

The new institute will be led by Professor Sir David Hendry, Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College and former head of the Department of Economics. More details and information about the new institute will be announced by the James Martin 21st Century School on 28 April 2010.

The Balliol Speakeasy Ball has been cancelled as a result of “underwhelming” ticket sales.

An online statement issued by the Balliol Ball Committee explained that it was “economically impossible” to go ahead with the ball, as ticket sales outside of the College were not strong enough.

The decision to cancel the ball was taken by College authorities, after increased attempts at raising the publicity of the ball had failed to boost demand for tickets.

The Committee said they were “incredibly disappointed and frustrated that this has happened”.

The Ball Secretary explained, “Few sales were made outside of the college. Almost all tickets that were purchased outside of the battel system were bought by close friends of college members, or alumni. We were unable to sell enough tickets to even approach breaking even.”

The negative press which followed Balliol’s last summer ball has been cited to as a factor contributing to a lack of interest in this year’s event. Last year’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Ball was followed by complaints relating to the availability of food and drink, as well as the quality of entertainment on offer.

In a letter to Balliol JCR, the Ball Committee referred directly to the damage caused to the reputation of Balliol stating such negativity had subsequently “spiraled”.

Of the ball’s cancellation, a fourth year Balliol student commented, “In a large part it was due to the bad publicity that they were burdened with from last year. I heard that a large part of the budget was spent on securing DJ Yoda’s appearance, which could have been a mistake.

“Most people at Balliol are upset that it has been cancelled. Our balls may not be as glamorous as other Colleges but they are always fun if you’re at Balliol”.

The Ball Committee has confirmed that all those who purchased tickets for this year’s ball will be refunded. In a statement addressed to attendees the Committee said, “We can only express our great unhappiness about this unfortunate situation, and apologise to all JCR members that such events have transpired”.

The Speakeasy Ball was scheduled to take place on the same night as six other College balls. It faced competition from St Hugh’s Secret Garden Party, which has sold over 2000 tickets, and The Keble Ball, which recently increased its proposed attendance to over 1000 people.

The ball was due to be held on Saturday of second week. It promised to transport guest “to a secret world of recklessness and elegance” and was set to feature the hip-hop artist DJ Yoda.

The terms of the cancellation will be discussed in detail at the first Balliol JCR general meeting of next term when a Ball Committee report will be delivered to JCR members.

Two Oxford professors have received Canada Gairdner Awards in recognition of their achievements in the field of medical science.

The grants are among the most prestigious grants given for medical research. Since the awards were first presented in 1957, over a quarter of recipients have gone on to win the Nobel Prize.

Peter Ratcliffe, the Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine, was recognised for his work researching how cells in the body monitor their levels of oxygen. Oxygen deficiency is a critical feature of a wide range of illnesses including heart disease, cancer and anaemia.

The Gairdner Foundation also rewarded Nick White, who specialises in tropical medicine. Professor White’s work with the drug artemisinin has shown it to be the single most effective and fast acting treatment for malaria.

Artemisinin had been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than a millennium. It was rediscovered during the Vietnam War by scientists working at Ho Chi Minh’s behest.

The drug is now deployed widely in first-line treatments for malaria.

Professor White intends to donate a portion of his grant to Medical Action Myanmar. The Dutch charity is working to improve access to healthcare for some of Burma’s poorest people.

Each of the scientists will receive $100,000 in funding.

The Bodleian Library has unveiled plans for a five million pound project, designed to upgrade space within the ancient central Bodleian site.

Plans aim to enable greater direct access to books, improved services and access for library readers and visitors with limited mobility.

Dr Sarah Thomas, Bodley’s Librarian, said that part of the project is to “open up the famous tunnel” which “generations of Oxford students have heard about but to which they have never had access.” The tunnel, called the Gladstone Link, will connect the Radcliffe Camera to the Old Bodleian main building.

A spokesperson from the Bodleian Libraries stated, “the tunnel and conveyor have had an important role in the mythology of Oxford over the last sixty years – many people believe there is a maze of tunnels underneath the libraries.”

The tunnel was previously used for transporting books on a 1940s conveyor from the New Bodleian to the Old Bodleian and for transporting books by trolley to the Radcliffe Camera. However, the tunnel will now be refurbished for reader use.

The Gladstone Link also contains the Underground Bookstore, which will be transformed into two floors of open-stack library space. There will be space for 240,000 books, as well as informal study areas for readers.

A new storage book facility will be located on a 15-acre site in South Marston, and will provide storage for 8 million volumes.

Other plans include adjusting the paving level in the Old Schools Quadrangle. It is assumed that at some time in the past, the Quad was “dropped” to accommodate a new drainage system, so that there are now one or two steps up to each door. The intention is to repave the Quad at the same level as the four lowest doorways. This will enable better disabled access to most of the doors and book delivery.

Dr Thomas commented, “These are exciting initiatives, developed as part of a coordinated estates programme. They will help to equip our most venerable and treasured Grade 1 buildings for the 21st century.”

Platform lifts are to be installed in both the Radcliffe Camera and the Old Bodleian main building. These will enable readers with limited mobility to access the Radcliffe Camera for the first time. A new staircase will wrap around the platform lift providing safe access to the Gladstone Link and replacing a very steep staircase that was put in during the installation of the Underground Bookstore.

The changes aim to improve services, increase direct access to books and facilitate access for library visitors with limited mobility.

OUSU have welcomed the plans to improve disabled access. Danielle Fraser Solomon, Students with Disabilities Officer, praised improvements made by the University so far.

She said, “At the moment, the more recently built libraries (such as the Radcliffe Science Library) have reasonable levels of disabled access, but the older libraries do not, which creates an unreasonable disadvantage for those students with limited mobility whose courses mean that they rely on libraries such as the Bodleian.”

She added, “Hopefully this type of project will soon extend to the many departments and faculties across the university that also lack accessibility for students with physical and sensory disabilities.”

Some are worried that the upgrade could detract from the aesthetics of the buildings. Sarah Reder, a second-year student at St. Hilda’s said, “I think the upgrade sounds great but you need to be careful not to interfere with the character of the buildings, especially as they are Grade 1 listed.”

If Planning Permission approval is received, the work will begin at the end of Trinity Term 2010 and is due to be completed by Spring 2011. The work is scheduled to begin in June to avoid as much disruption to students and readers as possible.

The project is led by Purcell Miller Tritton, which has previously worked on other Grade 1 buildings including St Paul’s Cathedral, Kew Palace and the British Museum. The Radcliffe Camera is Grade 1 listed and was the first rotunda library built in England in the mid-eighteenth century.