Oxford University has been named the best university in Britain for the second year running. The Times put Oxford top in their definitive annual league table and increased the University’s lead over rivals Cambridge. Oxford topped the poll for the first time last year after displacing their historic rivals who had held the first position since the survey began. This year the University scored a perfect 1000 but extended its lead from three to fourteen points over second-placed Cambridge. Sir Colin Lucas, the vice chancellor, said “I hope that this result will encourage more bright students, whatever their background, who want to aim for the top to apply.” It is hoped that evidence of Oxford’s high standard will result in more applications, especially in proving that the University does not conform to the Brideshead image with which it is often branded. However, despite its triumph, the University lags behind in a survey of graduate destinations receiving a score of only 83.6. This puts it slightly behind neighbour Brookes but significantly further behind the leader, Cambridge, which scored 90.5. Tony Butler, director of the Oxford University Careers Service, responded by saying employers are keen to recruit Oxford graduates but that the figures are distorted by the number of students delaying employment. “There’s evidence that the pressures of studying, which have increased by the introduction of fees, mean that many are putting off looking for a job until after their exams.” Researchers analysed the percentage of graduates who go into jobs that require or expect degree qualifications but only looked at the first 6 months of employment. The survey also revealed that Oxford spends more money on libraries and computers than any other University when analyzing expenditure per student. This follows reports that the University has the biggest financial surplus of any UK university, despite falling from £20.5 million to £16.5 million. Spending on facilities, though, such as for sport, recreation and housing, was much lower totaling only 283 compared to Bath, who topped spending, with 419. This lower figure though is in part due to the collegiate nature of the University. The survey assesses a range of criteria including teaching and research assessment, entry standards and the student to staff ratio. Oxford reached the top last year after the rankings system was reworked to take account for the balance of arts and science within the universities. Cambridge had always been placed above Oxford because of its higher number of scientists.
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Bar prices at the Oxford Union are on course for a dramatic increase from Michaelmas term The bar lost almost £10,000 last year and the price hike is anticipated to be by as much 50% as a result of rising costs and falling profits. Librarian Matt Richardson said, “It is simply not viable for the Union to keep prices this low in face of spiralling costs”. The Union’s price change comes at the same time as increased prices are being introduced across Oxford’s college bars. Marcus Walker, President-Elect, admitted that “bar prices may no longer remain the cheapest in Oxford”, but the popular £1-a-pint on Carlsberg will not be affected. Union sceptics are angry at the proposed increases, especially given the complimentary drinks consumed by Committee members during discussions about this very issue. Presidential Drinks every Thursday sees large amounts of alcohol consumed by guests at members’ expense. One Secretary’s Committee member even spoke of a competition among committee members’ to make back their entire £140 membership fee in just one night at Presidential Drinks. Treasurer Ed Tomlinson stressed that several factors, including reintroducing music and carpeting in the bar area, mean that this term should see a return to profitability.
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The Natural History Museum’s director, Sir Neil Chalmers, is to become the next warden of Wadham College. Wadham made the announcement following the news that their current warden, John Flemming, will leave in July because of ill health. Mr Flemming’s announcement came as a great surprise to staff and students as he was expecting to continue in his post for another decade. Wadham is said to be “grief stricken” at the announcement that Flemming is suffering from cancer, which has forced early retirement. Sir Neil will take over the post of Warden in October 2004, until which time the sub-warden Jeffrey Hackney will be Acting Warden. He will not be able to come any earlier as he is committed to a project at the Natural History Museum which seeks to raise in excess of £68,000. Hackney is confident that Chalmers will be an excellent warden, saying that the college had ‘a very good feel for him’ when they interviewed candidates and that he had ‘happily accepted’ the offer of the post. Sir Neil has been educated at both Oxford and Cambridge and pursued an academic career before becoming Dean of Science at the Open University. He has held his post at the Natural History Museum since 1988, a period of significant change, during which free access to the museum has been introduced, a policy which he actively promoted. He initiated the process of opening the museum’s vast collections of specimens to the public, as part of the Darwin Centre project, phase one of which was completed last year.
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Indecent exposure was reported last week, when a female student at Lady Margaret Hall was left disturbed by a pervert early on May morning. The man, who is described as being in his forties and of stocky build, is said to have watched the first-year undergraduate from his car at the corner of Norham Gardens before driving slowly a short distance ahead of her. He then pulled into the pavement and descended from his car close to the college entrance, where he began to pleasure himself under a lamp-post as she walked past. No porter was on duty at 2 a.m., the time of the incident, but the head porter was informed later the same day and the police subsequently interviewed the victim on Friday. The student reported having “felt sick” and was left “disturbed” by the event. Although the police took details, the offender has apparently not been caught; nor has a younger Asian man who has reportedly been engaging in similar activities in the area. Police, however, informed the student of having recently caught a 15 year old for such an offence, although off the record one officer told her that even though incidents of this nature are common in the area, punishment is rare as courts don’t consider it to be a serious offence. The incident follows events at the end of last term in which two female students including a Cherwell staff member experienced separate similar episodes on Jowett Walk during daylight hours. More recently, two undergraduates from St. Hugh’s spotted another man masturbating on Woodstock Road early on Tuesday of 0th week, and believe he may have tried to follow them back to their college. The police were informed and the students interviewed. Others at the college claim to have spotted the same individual in similar circumstances on at least three occasions over the previous term. Norham Gardens has come under criticism in the recent past for its poor street-lighting at night, which has been accused of contributing to sporadic problems of student mugging in the area. The police were unavailable for comment with regards to incidents involving indecent exposure, although one porter at Lady Margaret Hall said that ‘flashing’ was common in the University area and definitely saw an increase in the summer sun. The victim from Lady Margaret Hall urges students to avoid walking alone at night, and that if such an event occurs, to try and take mental note of key details such as appearance and car registration without sacrificing personal safety, as this information is valuable to the police.
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A Rebel Labour MP is set to speak in Oxford on 16 May at the Town Hall, writes Hoda Mahmoud, in a discussion on the War on Iraq. George Galloway, currently the target of a political controversy, is a frequent speaker in Oxford and attracted a huge audience when he last spoke in March. Oxford Students Stop The War have organised the talk. Their press officer Johnny Morton stated that the purpose of the meeting was to ‘keep awareness levels high about the situation in Iraq; the situation is far from resolved and we must not believe unquestioningly the assurances of those in power that everything has ended happily, particularly when this is not the case.’ Galloway was this week suspended from the Labour party only weeks after accusations in the Daily Telegraph that he accepted a cut of oil money worth £375,000 a year from the former Iraqi regime in exchange for support for Saddam. OSSTW have organised frequent anti-war meetings and protests, with the aim of highlighting the injustices and aftermath of war. The meeting will also include Jeremy Corbyn MP and Rev. Richard Harries Bishop of Oxford.
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A Somerville student won a gold award at the British Council’s first International Student Awards, writes Katherine Pateman. Yimon Aye, who is reading chemistry, picked up £2000 for writing about how her life has changed since she came to Oxford. The Burmese student was one of two winners out of over 1700 entries to the competition where entrants were asked to write a letter home describing their life, experience and achievement in the UK. Aye wrote not only of her pride at gaining a scholarship but also of experiences she has gained working in the UK, including voluntary work with disabled people. She said, “I only entered because I wanted to represent my country and I know I am so fortunate to be here because there are only a few Burmese students in the UK.” Aye had never been able to study chemistry until she arrived in the UK but has since won prizes for excellence both from the University and the Royal Society of Chemistry. She hopes to embark on an academic career so that she can return home to help bring about reforms in the Burmese higher education system. She plans to embark on an academic career so that she can return home to help bring about reforms in the Burmese higher education system.
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A 22-year old medical student has been arrested for attempting to sit his sister’s junior college science paper. Dasart Suresh put on a wig and traditional dress to pass himself off as his younger sister, claiming he got the idea ’from a movie’. He managed to enter the examination hall and take the first part of the test before a supervisor noticed that his face did not match the photograph on his sister’s admission ticket; he had a beard, 12-year old Ravathi did not. Dasart now faces charges of forgery and impersonation.
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Police are investigating claims that a porn film was shot in a hall of residence, after the janitor reported seeing camera crews and naked women, who told him they were “working on a film project”. Blurred CCTV footage has been discovered showing a male actor in a beaver costume and a group of eight female students on the pool table in the communal lounge. The Indiana Student Association has made a statement condemning the X-rated exploits, though claiming afterwards that they ”would like to see the footage, if anyone has a copy”.
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Gunn-Britt Marklund was checking her bank balance over the internet to see whether her loan had come through, when she discovered a clerical error which had made her into the country’s richest person overnight. “I sat down and stood up and sat down again,” she said. Her balance was £5.4 billion. However, after calling the bank, the surplus funds were removed the next day – though they would have earnt her £1 million in interest in 24 hours, enough to pay her accommodation fees for over 30 years.
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This week visual arts in Oxford was nowhere near boiling-point. The new exhibitions in the Ashmolean such as Spectacular Impressions and An Englishman’s Travels in Egypt, despite their promising titles, were more lukewarm than usual. The former, showcasing prints from the 15th to 17th centuries by artists such as Mantegna, Durer, Rembrandt and Van Dyck, was definitely enlightening. Every one of the images on display has been recognised internationally as to be of the highest quality, and each could probably inspire an exhibition in itself. However, to the untrained and uninformed eye, they were impressive more in terms of technical skill than emotive power. Similarly, the Englishman’s Travels in Europe though interesting in its revival of the story of Edward Lane, a renowned Arabic scholar and fine draughtsman, invited only a passing glance.
In the same way, Ornamentation: drawings for the decorative arts, running in the Christ Church Gallery from 30 April to 30 July, seemed to me to be pleasant but entirely insipid, drawing on the College’s existing collection of graphic art and featuring particularly prominently the designs of Giulio Romano. Apart from a slight physical resemblance to Punch cartoons, the collection was unremarkable, offering plenty of faint drawings of ornamental vases, curlicues and seals.
In comparison to these, the permanent collection of paintings in Christ Church seems much more impressive. Needless to say, the 300 odd Old Master paintings and almost 2 000 drawings are definitely overwhelming in their grandeur and scope. I particularly enjoyed the detailed work in paintings such as The Devil, where a certain Abba Moses the Indian (i.e from Ethiopia) is painted a lurid shade of green, with sagging breasts, a beard, tails, winds and bird feet in one of the Nine Scenes from the Lives of the Hermits (Tuscan Schoolc.1440- 1450). Other gems include the Fragment from a Lamentation by Hugo van der Goes (the tears on the Virgin’s face glisten with tangible emotion), and Filippino Lippi’s The Wounded Centaur, which beautifully depicts the dangers of playing with love.
These, of course, are just a few examples of the wealth of delights provided by this small gallery, mentioned in every tourist guide, but under-utilised by the members of the University to whom, after all, admission is free (on presentation of a Bod card). In fact, I would recommend any bored visual arts buff to go spend an afternoon at Christ Church. More often than not, the permanent collection of the  college shows more dynamism and promise than newer arrivals to the city.
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