Oxford has secured £118.9m of government money in the latest assessment from the Higher Education Funding Council. The sum will be the largest given to any university this year.

The success comes after the university performed well in the latest Research Assessment Exercise, which judges the quality of academic research. The exercise found that 70% of Oxford’s research could be classified as “world class.”

Dr John Hood, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, expressed his delight. “This is testament to the brilliance and commitment of our academics, and reflects both the breadth and depth of Oxford’s research activity.”

Oxford’s success comes despite several other universities, including Cambridge, gaining a higher average rating for their research in the RAE. A University spokeswoman said that while the proportion of Cambridge’s research rated internationally significant was higher, “in terms of absolute numbers we simply had more research rated 4* and 3* – ie, we have more world-class research. That’s reflected in the funding.”

Although Oxford and other traditionally research-intensive universities continue to dominate funding, they have lost ground in the latest round of assessments to newer universities, including Oxford Brookes. The trend is a result of the new methodology adopted by the research assessment exercise in 2008, which sought to reward “islands of excellence” in a much wider range of institutions.

Sir Roy Anderson, the rector of Imperial College London, told the Times Higher Education supplement, “the Russell group, which represents the major UK research-intensive universities, has collectively suffered a reduction in its share of the sector allocation of these funds.”

LSE has been hit particularly hard by the reforms, which have also seen a shift of emphasis in favour of natural science research. The college has announced that it faces a 13% reduction in research funding.

While Oxford’s RAE performance remained strong, university administrators here have shown signs that they are not immune to the concerns expressed by other Russell Group Universities. Dr John Hood was keen to qualify his joy at the funding, saying “the increase in this funding on last year does not keep pace with the increase in our activity or our costs. We will not stop urging our friends and alumni to support our world-leading research and teaching. That is more crucial in the current economic climate than ever.”

Spokesmen for the new universities, meanwhile, said their successes reflected strengths in specialist areas which had been overlooked by the old assessment method.

A former Oxford University scientist has been jailed after pleading guilty to charges of sexual assault on a toddler and the possession of 20,000 images of child pornography.

Andrew Lintern, 55, pleaded guilty to 31 charges at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. These included an indecent assault on a 17-month infant, taking sexualised photographs of his victims and distributing the images.

Lintern, who used to work as a chemistry researcher at Oxford, was caught by the London Metropolitan Police’s Paedophile Unit while posing as a 9-year-old girl on an online messenger service.

Lintern contacted someone he believed to be a 13-year old girl, who was, in fact, an undercover police officer. Police arrested Lintern after he arranged to meet the “13-year-old.”

The former chemist is suspected to have indulged in paedophilic activities for the last 10 years. He has been found to collect stories describing the rape and murder of children. He also wore nappies while at home.

Detective sergeant Jason Tunn from the Met’s Paedophile Unit said, “certainly by 2002 he was abusing children hands-on… He is a dangerous sexual predator on children.”

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC said that the evidence raised “concerns about [Lintern’s] state of mind.” He considered him to be “a significant threat to the public.”

He told Lintern, “taken all in all, the charges you have pleaded guilty to amount to such a great catalogue of offences involving child abuse that it is difficult to grasp the scale of your offending.

“And it is just as difficult to grasp what has prompted a man like yourself to become steeped in activities involving the serious exploitation of children and the literally immeasurable harm that was done to them.”

Lintern was given an Indeterminate Public Protection sentence, with the minimum jail time of three-and-a-half years. He will only be freed if the release is approved by the parole board or the Secretary of State, and will otherwise face an indeterminate sentence.

Jason Tunn commented, “the probation officer that assessed him, the judge and the psychologist agreed that the risk of re-offending is high and the fact that he’s been given an indeterminate sentence reflects that.”

Some have found the sentence to be insufficient. A second-year medic from Christ Church said, “three and a half years minimum is a disgustingly short sentence for someone who basically was planning to rape a thirteen year old girl. Even if he doesn’t get out that soon, that the minimum was set so low really trivialises rape and that is going to put women and children at risk.”

Rosanna McBeath, OUSU VP for welfare, commented, “I’m shocked and disgusted to hear about this case. It is upsetting to hear that someone who was once part of the Oxford community committed such heinous actions. If anyone at the University was affected by this, I would urge them to seek support.”

A first year CAAH student commented, “that’s really disturbing. It’s scary that there are people around like that. You think of Oxford as a safe place and put your trust in the people who work here… this news comes and it makes you feel sick.”

A third-year Magdalen student added, “it’s horrifying to think that this pervert ever had a connection with a teaching institution; even more horrifying that the institution is the same one I go to. The man was clearly messed up.”

The University refused to comment on whether Lintern could have posed a threat to students and staff during his career at Oxford.

A National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children spokesperson noted, “we must not forget the fact that behind many abusive images are real children. Receiving or downloading abusive images of children perpetuates its production and reinforces the cycle of sexual exploitation.”

The technology guru James Martin has offered to match every donation to Oxford University for the next year – up to a maximum of $50m.

He says he hopes his pledge will enable research into the impact of technology on society, and encourage others to keep giving despite the recession.

The businessman is already the University’s biggest donor in modern times. In 2005 he donated $100m to found Oxford’s James Martin 21st Century School.

Martin’s latest contribution will go towards the target of £1.25 billion which Oxford has set itself in its latest fundraising campaign, Oxford Thinking. If successful, the scheme will be the most lucrative in European history.

Russell Foster, a professor of neuroscience at Brasenose College, has concluded that teenagers naturally need more sleep than adults and children.

Speaking up against the stereotype of teenagers being simply too lazy to get up on time, he told the BBC, “there’s a biological predisposition for going to bed late and getting up late. Clearly you can impose upon that even worse habits, but they are not lazy.”

Russell said his tests showed students performed better in the afternoon. He suggested opening schools an hour later to catch pupils at their natural peak, claiming this could reduce truanting and depression.

Exposure to suicide in the workplace or in the family increases the risk of people killing themselves, joint research by the University of Oxford and Stockholm University concluded.

The researchers discovered that people exposed to a colleague’s suicide at work are more than three times more likely to end their own lives.

It was also shown that anyone who has a family member who’s committed suicide is more than eight times more likely to take the same path.

Professor Peter Hedstrom, a researcher at Oxford University said, “Since there are so many more individuals who experience a suicide in their wo

rkplace, the aggregate effect is greater than what can be ascribed to the family, even though a suicide in the family obviously has a greater impact on the suicide risk of the individual in question.”

Police have confirmed that they are still treating last term’s second fire at Hertford as a possible case of arson.

At around 4:49pm on Friday of 8th week, black bin liners full of rubbish in the basement around the Radcliffe Square entrance to the college burst into flames. Soon, tall flames and plumes of smoke surrounded the building, scorching and blackening the outside walls of the college.

Fire engines soon arrived and succeeded in extinguishing the fire within ten minutes. Aside from some melted guttering, the damage was merely cosmetic. The fire brigade remained in the area for another hour, to ensure no smoke had entered the building and that the building was safe to be re-entered. Students were soon allowed back in.

Police arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, later confirming that they were treating the blaze as suspicious. A spokesman from the fire services stated that “arson is still being investigated… the details of the fire appear suspicious”.

A spokesman for Thames Valley police said in a statement “the causes of the fire are still unknown”, and that “investigations are ongoing”. However, college bursar Peter Baker denied this, claiming “police have ruled out arson, and are satisfied that the fire was accidental”. As yet, nobody has been arrested or taken in for questioning.

This fire was the second to have broken out on Hertford College property this term. In the early hours of Tuesday, Week 2, a fire outside the Warnock House property on St Aldate’s forced the evacuation of 100 , although there were no injuries in this incident either. Again, arson was initially considered as the cause of the fire, although police then ruled this out.

In spite of the two fires, college sources say they remain satisfied with Hertford’s fire safety and have no plans to alter their fire procedures. Sources in the emergency services have emphasised that they do not blame the college for the either incident.

Oxford’s fire service described Hertford’s response to the fire as exemplary, saying they were “very satisfied with the college’s fire measures” and were impressed by the speed and efficiency with which buildings were evacuated.