The Sheldonian Theatre ceiling has been repaired following four years of restoration work.

The 32 ceiling panels of the theatre had been temporarily removed in 2004 to allow essential repairs to the historic building. It was then discovered that the panels were also in need of work.

Restoration work on the ceiling was completed in summer 2008, and the project to put the panels back in place commenced at the beginning of this year.

Created by King Charles II’s court painter Robert Streater, the ceiling depicts a personification of Truth descending upon the Arts and Sciences to expel ignorance, rapine and envy from the University.

The University’s chairman of curators, Jeffrey Hackney, admitted to having “always hated this ceiling – so much so that when they took it down and we had sackcloth instead, I thought it greatly preferable”.

After the restoration of the ceiling, however, Hackney has come to regard it in a new light. He said, “I have recanted. Now I see it in its true colours, I have changed my mind completely”.

“I think there will be much drawing of breath”, he said, “when people see the restored ceiling for the first time”.

The ceiling had to be repainted many times before its most recent restoration.

According to conservation workers, It suffered from centuries of leaks, as well as the rubbish left by generations of builders. Amongst the rubble, however, there were some unexpected discoveries.

Workmen found two time capsules, one containing an old pair of trousers and a note from their owner.

“Hope you enjoy yourself when you have found this valuable treasure,” read the message, “I expect I will have fed the worms by then.”

Barack Obama’s recent victory in the US Presidential Election is likely to affect the numbers of UK graduates applying for jobs in the United States, a Higher Education spokesperson has said.

According to Dr Bahram Bekhradnia, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, “The UK has benefitted greatly over the last seven years from the negative perception of the US”.

The US is lifting 9/11 visa restrictions while the advent of biometrics and identity cards will tighten British barriers, meaning that the UK could lose out on the £10 billion overseas students bring to economy every year.

Make sure your underwear fits and is “unobtrusive”, don’t appear “frumpy” or “tarty”, or mention politics, religion or sex at dinner – this is just some of the advice published in a new guide for graduate trainees.

Graduates were told to avoid wearing “crumpled or stained” clothes, not to put salt on food before tasting it and only to pick your napkin off the floor if there is no butler to do it for you.

The guide, compiled by the wife of the Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University, has raised eyebrows, with one academic describing it as “a broth of self-important snobbery”.

The collaboration of Oxford University doctors and the Colorado Centre for Reproductive Medicine could see success rates of IVF soar due to developments in screening embryos.

The new process, comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH), allows doctors to monitor all the chromosomes in the developing embryo. It is believed that a common cause of miscarriage is an abnormal number of chromosomes.

This new method has the potential to double impregnation rates in women who would otherwise have problems conceiving, while it is estimated that the live birth rate will rise from a predicted rate of 60% to 78%.

Dr Dagan Wells, of Oxford University, described the increased pregnancy rates as “absolutely phenomenal.”

The Pembroke JCR bogsheet has been banned following serious complaints regarding its offensive nature.

Phrases such as “you can tell by the stench she’s bleeding from the trench” have prompted many complaints regarding the explicit content of the column following the publication of the first Michaelmas issue.

Several members of Pembroke JCR have condemned the content of the publication, with one third year descrbing the coumn as “vulgar and absolutely disgusting”.

However, he did admit that “it’s been always like that” and “people got upset occasionally”.

The Bogsheet is a gossip column distributed at the end of each JCR meeting. It is the responsibility of two members of the Committee known as the “Paparazzi”.

The writers of the bogsheet, Ed Sorby and Alex Sants, have already issued a formal apology to the members of the JCR for the content of the latest edition. They were also banned from partaking in all forms of student journalism until the end of the year.

Sants admitted that “It was a gross error in judgment on our part, and we certainly didn’t think about the impact our actions would have in the wider community.

“It was not meant to be a personal attack on any member of the JCR, male or female.”

The JCR has decided to voluntarily stop the publication of the Bogsheet until the Trinity term. A new format of the column is to be created, as the writers review what is acceptable under the new college guidelines to go in.

Caroline Daly, the JCR President admitted that “Clearly, the old format cannot be resurrected. We are looking to reinvent the format of the Bogsheet in the interim period.

“As such, we are looking for suggestions as to what the students would like to see in the new publication.”

University tuition fees are to be frozen for at least five years, Westminster promised this week.

Speaking on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, chief executive David Eastwood has proclaimed that universities nationwide should not be expecting tuition fees to rise with inflation, in light of the current economic crisis.

He said; “I think it’s inconceivable that the cap will rise significantly before 2013.”

A spokesman for the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills added that, “the government is committed to growing student numbers and to ensuring finance is no barrier to going to university.”

The move follows revelations that any increases in tuition fees would prove a strain on government finances.

Some leading research universities have estimated that Universities will require their students to pay £3000 more every year in tuition fees.

If this is the case, then students would be required to borrow more money from the government.

The London School for Economics has estimated that if students were forced to take out a student loan of a minimum of £5,000, then this would incur the cost of £1.5 billion to the government’s treasury.

Paul Dwyer, OUSU VP for access and academic affairs has expesed his delight at the move.

He said, “I think that it would be fantastic… for all students if there was a freeze on the fees that they have to pay for their education.”

However, he admitted that he was frustrated that the move was motivated by the credit crunch alone, and not by the constraints tuition fees have on students, “I think it is a little disappointing that the government would only consider this option in an unfavourable economic climate, and not as part of their wider thinking on university funding.”

Meanwhile, Mark Mills, student and councillor for Holwell, has little faith in the government’s promise.

He said, ‘‘for the government to say they’re not raising tuition fees is like someone attacking you in the street promising not to hit you again.”

Many students have wondered as to what future impact this might have on their finances.

Economics and Management 2nd year Jane Rudderham said, ‘the increased burden for the Government of capping the tuition fees may cause a rise in future taxation to compensate.

“So either way students will have to eventually pay for the governments higher costs, either from more debts incurred by the capping or from having to pay higher future income taxes.”

The move has also raised questions as to how the University will be able to cope financially.

3rd year PPEist Max Thompson said, “It’s a good thing to do, because if people are struggling financially, then they’d be less inclined to apply.

But I don’t know if it will work in practice.”

Other students expressed concern that the capping may force colleges to raise cost of battels because, as one law student stated, ‘‘if the cost is passed on to the colleges, then the college would have to meet that.”

However, OUSU’s access and academics rep, Joy Wong, remained positive about the move.

She said, “considering the momentum of the Oxford fundraising campaign that was launched in Trinity Term this year, I am confident that Oxford would not only be able to maintain its current standard without raising fees, but also to enter on a level playing field with universities in America in the near future.”

The government’s pledge to freeze tuition fees has arrived in the same week that the Higher Education Secretary, John Denham, has spoken in support of radically altering the UK’s university system.

If his plans go ahead, Oxford University may be compelled by the government to introduce a credit marking system based on the US model.

Oxford may also have to forsake its long holidays in favour of being able to offer part time courses.

A spokesperson for Oxford University said that the matter was “only at the beginning of consultations.”

However, Max Thompson described the idea as ‘ridiculous’ and that it ‘impedes on [the universities’] autonomy.”

Joy Wong echoed this, saying, “the reality of Oxford life shows that part-time degrees in Oxford would either lead to the lowering of the standard of Oxford education, or disadvantage the part-time students.”

Mark Mills concluded by saying; “I do not think it’s a good idea that a government minister in Westminster to dictate how universities should be run.”