Monday 6th October 2025
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Lords votes to sever HE Bill link between tuition fees and TEF

Akshay Bilolikar
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Lords votes to sever HE Bill link between tuition fees and TEF

The House of Lords has passed an amendment to sever the link between tuition fees and the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), defeating the government on its Higher Education and Research (HE) Bill.

The amendment, which passed by 263 votes to 211, removes the proposed right of universities to set tuition fees based on ranking in the TEF. Top-performing universities would have been allowed to raise fees by up to £250 per student per year.

The amendment states: “The scheme established under Section 26 must not be used to rank English higher education providers as to the regulated course fees they charge to a qualifying person; or the unregulated course fees they charge to an international student; or the number of fee paying students they recruit, whether they are qualifying persons or international students.”

The amendment, proposed by the crossbench peer Lord Kerslake, accepted both the government’s case for a educational quality framework and the need for tuition fees to rise with inflation. However, Lord Kerslake argued that the TEF was “not ready” to calculate teaching quality with sufficient certainty to justify fee increases.

Noting that “the TEF rating will relate to the university, not the subject or course,” he pointed out that the possibility of mediocre courses at top-performing universities could lead to an unfair assessment of fees for individual students.

The former principal of St. Anne’s College, Baroness Deech, also spoke out against the bill, claiming that if the link between the TEF and fees became law, students from poorer backgrounds would be less likely to attend “more established” universities.

The HE Bill has faced substantial opposition in its previous passage through the Lords, and was criticised by Oxford Chancellor Lord Patten as “ham-fisted” and threatening the “true value of an independent university” in an article for The Observer.

In recent months, OUSU and numerous college JCRs have supported an NUS boycott of the National Student Survey (NSS), in an attempt to undermine the TEF. The Universities minister, Jo Johnson, planned to use NSS scores to rank universities as part of the TEF.

Writing on Twitter, Eden Bailey, OUSU’s VP for Access and Academic Affairs, wrote that “ALL THE LETTERS WE WROTE, EMAILS WE SENT, NATIONAL STUDENT SURVEYS WE DIDN’T FILL IN – IT MADE A DIFFERENCE!!!”.

She also thanked OUSU volunteers who lobbied Lords by mail over the Christmas vacation.

Ana Oppenheim, NCAFC National Committee member and candidate for NUS Vice-President Higher Education, said: “This is a huge victory for students, and it could not have happened without pressure from the student movement.  Demonstrations, occupations, and the NSS boycott kept this high on the political agenda.

“We now have a task on our hands to make sure this passes through the Commons, to maintain and extend the boycott, and to escalate the campaign against the wider higher education reforms.”

The bill will now return to the House of Commons, where it is likely that the government will strike down the Lords amendment.

 

“More gentle slap than sucker punch”

Katheryn Thompson
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“More gentle slap than sucker punch”

The words “We want sex equality” should be a rousing chant, especially in today’s political climate, but Made in Dagenham is a musical known less for its sucker punch and more for its gentle slap. The 2015 musical, adapted from the 2011 film, tells the story of the female workers at the Ford plantation in Dagenham who went on strike in 1968, after being classed as unskilled workers, but somewhat sidelines the political grit, instead focusing on the lives and relationships of the women. Ambriel Productions’ Made in Dagenham is no different.

Cat White is every bit as strong as her character, Rita,the musical’s lead and the women’s leader. She is an extremely capable actor who succeeds in bringing Rita to life, both in her role as wife and mother, and as woman and activist, capturing particularly well her character’s combination of insecurity and bravery.

Her delivery of the impromptu speech at the trade union conference was perhaps the best moment of the production. Her performance was made even more impressive by the fact that she recently lost her voice, unfortunately hindering the final song where the strain on her voice was evident. Benjamin Ashton, playing Rita’s husband Eddie, is another highly talented actor, making the best of an unsympathetic role.

Despite casting difficulties, largely caused by competition from Anna Karenina, who also beat Made in Dagenham to the Keble O’Reilly Theatre, some of the supporting cast were also very strong. Camilla Dunhill was fantastic as Barbara Castle, and in a gorgeous wig, as was Rachel Jones as the ditzy Clare. Joe Peden never failed to raise a laugh in a multitude of roles, commanding the stage whenever he was on it, and neither did Michael Crowder as Hopkins, whose expressions during ‘This is America’ were especially memorable. Rory Booth and Joe Peden also deserve a special mention for their sheer versatility, playing several roles each and all equally well.

It was also impressive that the large majority of the cast managed to sustain the Dagenham accent throughout, even in the songs. Unfortunately, the casting difficulties, which led to frequent confusion over doubling of roles, and Cat White’s loss of voice were far from the production’s only problems. Issues with the microphones were a problem: several of the characters’ lines, both in dialogue and song, were lost because they simply weren’t audible. The production also felt sloppy at times, as problems besetting choreography and stage management disrupted the audience’s experience and enjoyment. The moment when Rita agreed to accept a lift home from Barbara and then exited the stage in the opposite direction, was particularly memorable.

Similarly, Rita accepted Lisa’s offer to wear her red Biba dress for her speech at the trade union conference, and then didn’t wear it. This was made even more painful when both Mr Tooley and Eddie complimented her outfit, which was the same as it had been throughout the production.

The Simpkins Lee Theatre was far from full, and this is perhaps indicative of the musical Made in Dagenham itself. This production had a lot of potential, but unfortunately both the choice of musical and the problems plaguing the production seemed to hold it back.

A night for dancing and jumping

Daniel Curtis
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A night for dancing and jumping

Last Saturday night I saw White Lies play the O2 Academy as part of their current Friends tour. The result was one of a pressure cooker, with chorus unleashing fresh waves of momentum onto the low-ceilinged room.

They began with a triumvirate of their most powerful tracks. ‘Take It Out On Me’, ‘There Goes Our Love Again’, and ‘To Lose My Life’ opened proceedings at blistering pace, causing me to genuinely worry about how much voice I’d have left the following morning. I was also concerned about how evenly spread the setlist would be, fearing some lulls due to a potentially top-heavy set.

I needn’t have worried. While the set was, predictably, reliant on the newest album Friends, the band wisely stuck to the much stronger first half, which grounded the set with the dancey neo-80s vibe that Friends channels so well at its best.

Curiously, the band’s sophomore effort, Ritual, was largely ignored, with only live mainstay ‘Bigger Than Us’ closing the encore. Ritual was always more meditative, not a natural fit for a night which was very firmly one for dancing and jumping: never has the line “this fear’s got a hold on me” had such a euphoric tinge.

The placid, tropical pink lights which accompanied their opening tracks faded into a vitriolic red to accentuate the desolation of the lyrical content—one thing for which White Lies can always be relied upon is poetic grandeur.

But not everything was perfect: ‘Farewell to the Fairground’ had some tech problems throughout, rather crushing the level of the guitar. When the noise came up to the right level, frontman Harry McVeigh made the most of its throaty roar over the last few bars, but that zeal lead to a rather uncharacteristic squeak on the final note of the song. Bassist Charles Cave was damning in his on-stage verdict: “That’s the fucking worst fucking bum note I’ve heard in my life”.

However, it was actually quite nice to hear White Lies in a more unpolished state than usual. For a band whose synths are sleek and whose live sets are meticulous, it was nice to glimpse the chassis beneath their neon chrome.

The supreme quality of the night rather took me by surprise, as someone who’s been following the band for years. I now realise that White Lies’ music only really makes sense live.

Sure, the lyrics are eschatological and take straight lines of romance and warp them into something more complex, but when people come together to dance to their sound, theirs isn’t a prism of misery, but more of realism—a unifying confrontation against the darkness of the world.

“We had a break after Big TV,” McVeigh said before they left the stage for the first time. “Three years. That’s a long time in music. We weren’t sure what we’d find when we came back when we got back out playing shows, so it means so much to see you all here.” The end of his sentence was drowned out by the crowd. Friends indeed.

“A bold and unapologetic production”

Surya Bowyer
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“A bold and unapologetic production”

Luckily for avid theatregoers, the Oxford theatre scene is full of first-evers. Last Hilary, the first-ever student production of Nick Payne’s Constellations was staged at the O’Reilly Theatre. In Michaelmas came the first production of Nick Dear’s Frankenstein since its original run at the National Theatre in 2011. Earlier this term, the first-ever theatrical adaptation of Four Lions was staged at the Michael Pilch Studio.

This week, the Pilch continues its trend of filmic first-evers with Suspiria, adapted from Dario Argento’s 1977 classic. The production was perhaps spurred on by the recent news that the film is being remade, with Luca Guadagnino at the helm. Guadagnino’s last film (A Bigger Splash) was one of 2015’s most unfairly overlooked gems, so fans of Argento’s original can sleep well at night – the remake is in good hands. But is this stage production?

Argento’s film is thoroughly stylised. It makes heavy use of a musical score. Nearly all its shots are very thoughtfully composed, with a particularly arresting penchant for high angles. Close-ups are deployed to emphasise and isolate moments of horror. This makes a stage adaptation rather problematic, and perhaps explains why in the forty years since the film’s release no-one has attempted a theatrical transposition. The question here is: how do you convey these effects on the stage?

Thankfully, the film’s most distinctive visual motif—a pervasive, eerie pink glow – has been preserved by lighting designer Sarah Wallace. The film’s score, by Italian prog band Goblin, is also retained—demonic chanting and all. Whilst director Hannah Kessler is listed also as having ‘adapted’ the film, script changes remain remarkably minor: the psychologist plot tangent is cut and the protagonist, Suzy Bannion, is switched from American to British. Generally, this production approaches the original as sacrosanct.  

This is not to say Kessler’s staging lacks innovation. Some use of body movement was always to be expected—it’s set in a ballet academy, after all. But what stands out is the intelligent use of bodies in scenes which would otherwise be awkward to stage. Black ballet leotards are here useful due to their inconspicuous, allowing actors’ bodies to become dynamic aspects of the set. They swarm obnoxiously towards Bannion to recreate the storm which opens the film, they freeze in angular poses to form the forest that early victim Pat Hingle scampers through. In the now iconic scene where Hingle is murdered, the problem of creating both a window and a balcony is handled in a similarly ingenious manner.

With all this ingenuity, the doubling of Pavlo and Mark is handled in a nonsensical manner. Having the same actor play both roles is not a problem in itself, indeed the same actor plays Dr Mandel. The problem here is of clarity. When playing Mandel, Connor John Warden dons a brown coat – a simple touch, but one that distinguishes the character visually. But Warden has the same simple all-black costume when playing both Pavlo and Mark, a decision sure to bewilder those less familiar with the film. First we are told Pavlo speaks only Romanian, but soon after Warden reappears, effortlessly conversing with Bannion in English. It is not immediately clear that he is playing a different character.

Despite this, Warden is a standout among the cast. Whether playing Mandel or Pavlo, he is adroit when it comes to producing laughs from the audience, and slides between roles with ease. Anusia Battersby’s stern turn as Miss Tanner is reminiscent of Alida Valli without being merely an imitation, and her authority over the girls is palpable throughout. Jessie See, playing Sara, has perhaps the most difficult role, having to go from cool and collected to paranoid mess in what could easily be an abrupt, jarring shift. But See thoroughly inhabits her character, and the shift is as natural as the over-the-top acting style allows.

The Pilch can be a difficult space to work with. Lazy design means that doors slam, and the fire escape sign over the stage right door means that you can never fully black out the space. Given that, perhaps as a stipulation of obtaining the rights, script remains largely untouched, the production is made up of many short scenes in varying locations. The reliance on cumbersome items such as tables, chairs, and an upright electric piano, is frustrating given that set-changes between scenes were under-rehearsed. Things were dropped, the translucent psych hung towards the back of the stage was pulled up and out of shape, and at one agonising point the carefully painted screen was knocked over.

It is a shame that these things negatively impacted an otherwise bold and unapologetic production. But some solace can be taken in the knowledge that opening night is never the most fluid experience, and things will get better as the run goes on. Fans of Argento’s original will be more than satisfied by this show, whilst my companion—an Argento virgin—assured me that even for those unacquainted with the giallo classic there is still much terror, creepiness, and fun to be had here. 

Anything but a simple fairy-tale

Ebere Nweze
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Anything but a simple fairy-tale

When I say the best bit about The Nightingale and The Rose is its brevity, I don’t mean it as a backhanded compliment, or an indirect way of suggesting that this play is not worth your time. On the contrary, solid performances from the cast and effective sound and lighting make this eerie reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s dark fairy-tale a successful one, but the play is made most unsettling by its sharp, sudden ending.

Just as in the Wildean original, the Burton Taylor production of The Nightingale and The Rose tells the story of a poor, struggling student whose plans for wooing the professor’s daughter, his coquettish love interest, are hindered by his inability to provide her with her flower of choice—a deep red rose. Neither character, quite rightly,is entirely likeable. We know right from the start that the professor’s daughter (played by Lara Marks) is no angel, but rather as fiendish as her red dress suggests, and though we appreciate his earnestness, we resent the student (Luke Wintour) for being so gullible.

Equally impressionable is the nightingale, however, who swoops down in the form of three white-robed and sweet-toned actors (Anousha Al-Masud, Olivia White, Jeevan Ravindran) in order to find a red rose for the lovesick student. Ultimately she will have to make a great sacrifice for the student to have his rose, but to no avail—the seductress’ rejection turns the student into a cynic:“What a silly thing love is,” the student declares. “It’s not half as useful as logic, and is quite unpractical. I shall go back to philosophy.”

Yes, it sounds like it could have been written by any embittered student, but thankfully Oscar Wilde wrote it, which makes it ten times less cringey than it could have been. And, wisely, writers Georgia Heneage, Bea Udale-Smith and Frazer Wareham-Martin remain faithful to the text for the most part.

The most notable deviation is the addition of the crows which represent, according to the writers “Nature’s perfect antithesis of the Nightingale’s naive sympathy.” I’ll admit I was not convinced initially when I walked in before the play began to find three crows shedding feathers and writhing around the stage, but the contrasts work. The honey-toned birdsong and white clothing of the nightingale clash with the strangled squawks and black feathers of the crows, reminding us that what would appear to be a simple fairy-tale would be anything but. The play captures the unnerving nature of Oscar Wilde’s tale well.

Indeed, though the play has one or two moments where it seemed just a little melodramatic (perhaps the nightingale’s death dance went on a moment too long?), it is very much an example of restraint and good editing. Perhaps it lacks some of the dark comedy detectable in Wilde’s own work, but it does well to express that idea of the fairytale gone terribly, terribly wrong. So much so, that even though the lights go down after only half an hour, the feeling of uneasiness lasts for so much longer.

Zoom In: How to steal our jobs as Film and TV editors

Cherwell Film & TV
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Zoom In: How to steal our jobs as Film and TV editors

After eight phenomenal weeks of movie trivia and pictures of Monet, the reign of Shivani and Katie has finally come to a close.

But, as our tragic break-up article should have informed you, all good things must come to an end, and this cloud has a definite silver lining for all you film fanatics out there, as it is officially time for two of you to step up to the challenge, and steal our jobs.

You heard correctly, Cherwell is recruiting, and we need two of you to take over our legacy. Applications must be in by Monday 6 March at 8pm and no prior experience is needed—both of us were freshers when we began our reign of power, and enthusiasm is the most important thing.

So if you’re a budding student journalist, a fan of film and TV, or just generally think you could do a better job than us, get your film finesse on and apply now! Check out cherwell.org/recruitment for more details.

NUS Vice-President cleared of Malia coup attempt claims

Maxim Parr-Reid
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NUS Vice-President cleared of Malia coup attempt claims

An inquiry has found that NUS Vice-President Richard Brooks did not conspire to remove Malia Bouattia as President of the NUS, and cleared him of any wrongdoing.

In January, it was alleged that hidden camera footage from Al Jazeera depicted the senior NUS officer plotting against its President.

Brooks denied any wrongdoing, and referred himself to an internal investigation in the Union.

Following the results of the investigation, Brooks posted on Facebook, attacking the “far left candidates electioneering and anti-Semites who troll anyone mentioned with the word Israel next to their name”.

Brooks told Cherwell: “I’m relieved that the investigation, which I referred myself for, has found no evidence of any wrongdoing on my part.

“I hope this is now a moment where we all can come together ensuring we continue to do great work transforming students’ lives and make students’ unions even better.”

Since her election as NUS President in 2016, Malia Bouattia has been criticised for alleged anti-Semitism and has been criticised for “outright racism” in a report by the Home Affairs Select Committee.

The initial allegations against Brooks had surfaced in an Al-Jazeera report titled “The Lobby”, which claimed it had found evidence of Israeli influence in student politics and the Labour Party.

Brooks wrote online: “I do not work on behalf of the Israeli Government. I have never met anyone from the Israeli Government.

“I have not accepted funds from the Israeli Government. It is a lie to say or infer otherwise.”

He added: “The last month has been a difficult one for me. My phone has lit up constantly from social media abuse, my family and friends checking on how I am and lies and mistruths posted about me all over the world.

“By most people’s standards, it was a sharp start to elections season.”

Malia Bouattia and the NUS have been contacted for comment.

Shark Tales Episode 5 [Season 6] Trailer

Cherwell Broadcasting
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Shark Tales Episode 5 [Season 6] Trailer

You think a broken kit is going to stop Shark Tales exposing the good, the bad, and the ugly of Oxford? Think again. We’ve caught you on camera. Shark Tales, Episode 5 [Season 6] – out tomorrow.

Oxford has highest number of top-earning staff

Jack Hunter
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Oxford has highest number of top-earning staff

A report published last week by the University and Colleges Union (UCU) showed that Oxford has 451 staff members earning over £100,000, placing it above University College London and Cambridge as the biggest payer of the 21 UK universities which have more than 100 staff earning over the £100,000 threshold.

This means that 451 staff earn at least 7.5 per cent of all 12,500 full-time staff at the University, at a time of falling wages and increasing work casualisation, according to UCU analysis.

This comes as the study, titled ‘Transparency at the top?’, also reveals that Oxford’s discrepancy between the pay of its Vice-Chancellor and the average earnings of its academic staff is the fourth-highest of all higher education institutions, in terms of total remuneration.

Andrew Hamilton, and his successor in the post, Louise Richardson, earned £433,000 in total during 2015-16, compared to the average pay, along with pension contributions, of academic staff at £56,156.

In terms of annual pay, excluding pensions, the Oxford VC earned over eight times that of the average staff member, at a salary of £359,000 compared to the average pay of £40,676.

UCU say that a two per cent increase in VC pay across the sector comes at the same time as a one per cent rise in the pay of all university staff.

President of the Oxford UCU branch, Garrick Taylor, while welcoming the “restraint” showed in the Oxford VC’s decreasing expenses and travel, described it as “a concern that such a high number of senior post holders are earning over £100,000 which mean that at least 7.5 per cent of staff costs go to just 451 staff in a University of well over 12,500 [full time] staff.

“This is at a time when the majority of staff are having their real terms pay repressed and the University are trying to reduce staff costs and are asking for voluntary redundancies.”

Last week, Cherwell revealed that Oxford University has paid £735,988 to 106 former staff on voluntary redundancy settlements in the last five years.

The university with the greatest discrepancy between the pay of its Vice-Chancellor and the average pay of its sta members was Southampton, where the VC earned £643,000 in 2015-16, while the average pay of its staff was £37,942. This means the former VC, Don Nutbeam, earned almost 19 times that of the average staff member.

The figures show a six per cent decrease in the Oxford VC’s expenses on hotels and travel during the same period.

In January, a Times Higher Education report revealed that the Oxford University VC was the third highest-paid at a Russell Group university.

An Oxford University spokesperson told Cherwell: “Oxford is a global leader for research and teaching, and was recently ranked the number one university in the world by Times Higher Education. To maintain this strong position, we need to keep attracting exceptional minds, who are also highly sought-after by our international competitors. We recruit and retain the very best, and we reward their talent appropriately.”

Reacting to the findings of the report, UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt, said: “Those at the very top in our universities need to rein in the largesse that embarrasses the sector and the government needs to enforce proper scrutiny of their pay and perks.”

“Telling staff that there is no money for pay rises while signing off golden goodbyes worth a quarter of a million pounds or handing out pay rises in excess of ten per cent to 23 university heads is quite outrageous.”

She called for government intervention to regulate vice-chancellors’ spending. She said: “Unless the government finally steps in we believe many vice-chancellors will continue to spend public money and students’ fees with impunity. The huge disparities in the levels of pay and pay rises at the top expose the arbitrary nature of senior pay and perks in our universities.”

Oxford has most sexual harassments of students by staff in the UK – report

Jack Hunter
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Oxford has most sexual harassments of students by staff in the UK – report

Oxford University is at the centre of claims of an “epidemic level” of sexual harassment and gender violence in UK universities, a new investigation has suggested.

Freedom of Information requests sent by the Guardian show that Oxford reported the highest number of allegations against staff by students, with 11 received by the University central administration and 10 by colleges in the past five years.

Oxford also has the highest number of allegations of staff assaulting staff, with 17 recorded centrally and three by colleges.

The University insists there is a “distinct possibility” of duplication between college and central allegations in both of these figures.

In the last five years, staff-on-student harassment allegations were reported at Christ Church, LMH, Lincoln, Mansfield, Pembroke, and St John’s, the report shows. Queen’s had the highest number of such allegations, at three. The college has held two investigations into harassment claims and two members of staff have left or changed jobs as a result of reports of harassment from students.

St John’s Principal Bursar, Prof Andrew Parker, said the one reported incident of sexual harassment was “reported through a third party and no formal complaint was received.”

The figures place Oxford ahead of Nottingham, which had ten allegations by students against staff, and Cambridge, which had at least six reported incidents against staff by students, and seven staff-on-staff claims.

At a national level, the report found that at least 169 allegations against staff by students had been made between 2011-12 to 2016-17. A further 127 allegations were made against staff by colleagues.

Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) VP for Women and Equalities, Orla White, described the reported allegations of staff-on-student harassment as “just the tip of the iceberg”.

White told Cherwell: “Our central and collegiate harassment policies and procedures are unclear, unwieldy and often fail vulnerable students, especially in the case of staff-on-student harassment.

“It’s also the case that Oxford’s prestige as ‘the best university in the world’ hides a multitude of sins; from the accounts I’ve heard, the drive for academic excellence and the fear of jeopardising one’s career causes many people who experience harassment from well-respected academics to stay silent for fear of being excluded or vilified.”

The investigation also took issue with university policies on student and staff relationships, which it said legal experts found did little to “discourage” them developing.

Mansfield, Regent’s Park, St Hilda’s, St Hugh’s, and Worcester were the only undergraduate Oxford colleges not to have such a relationship policy, FoI requests showed.

St Hugh’s informed Cherwell that its policy on student-staff relationships, “follows the general University of Oxford guidance on this issue.” A spokesperson for St Hilda’s said: “Issues arising from staff-student relationships are covered by St Hilda’s Code of Practice Relating to Harassment”

A Worcester spokesperson told Cherwell: “We take the view that any issue around staff-student relations is well covered by our harassment policy, our whistleblowing policy, and our general code on staff conduct.”

The staff-student relationship policy of Lincoln College was called under particular scrutiny. The barrister Georgina Calvert-Lee, of McAllister Olivarius, told the Guardian she was “surprised” by the policy’s “blatant disregard for the weaker party”.

Calvert-Lee said: “(the policy) says overtly that the reason that it wants a reporting of these relationships is to ensure it will not have an adverse effect on the reputation of the College.”

In a statement, the College said: “The college’s policy is to ensure it is informed of any relationships between employees and students that are inappropriate. This is for the protection of the people involved as well as the college.”

The OUSU sexual violence awareness campaign, It Happens Here (IHH), raised concern that the Oxford collegiate system made the process of handling sexual harassment cases more difficult.

The IHH Co-Chair, Katt Walton, told Cherwell: “The independence colleges have in regard to policy enforcement and procedure allows for discrepancies and varied experience. We believe the lack of a centralised point of referral and information means students and staff alike may be more reluctant to report and follow through on cases of sexual harassment and violence.”

She added: “The University needs to start working on this lack of centralisation so it can foster a culture of belief and make sure students and staff know the University takes sexual harassment and sexual violence with the upmost importance.”

Speaking to Cherwell, Baroness Kennedy, the Principal of Mansfield College, who was appointed by the University to chair a working party on sexual violence and harassment, said her review was seeking to challenge “a great variation between colleges and departments when abuse or harassment is experienced.”

She said the allegation reported at Mansfield in the Guardian report “was five years ago and involved a tutor saying something inappropriate in a one-off event.”

She added: “We at Mansfield have used the University harassment policy rather than invent one of our own. I incline to the view that their should be a clearer system to which everyone adheres—a University wide system. There should also be an Independent Person (not connected to their College or Department) to whom a graduate student can go when their Supervisor is the alleged harasser.

“The silence on this kind of conduct is often linked to fear of the consequences—for academic assessment and marking and for references (…) Abusers have to know that there will be disciplinary or processes and possible criminal prosecution.”

A University of Oxford spokesperson said in a statement to Cherwell: “A wide-ranging campaign across the University in recent years has made clear that sexual assault and harassment, whether by staff or other students, will not be tolerated anywhere at Oxford.

“We have put the students themselves in charge of the process, allowing them to make first disclosures at a level where they are most comfortable, whether within their college, with the Student Union or the central University. We see the number of students now coming forward to disclose or report incidents as reflecting the progress made. Students can be clear on where to go for support and confident that they will be listened to.

“This clear, secure reporting system is just one of ways in which Oxford has strengthened its culture in recent years.”

The pro-vice-chancellor for education at the University of Cambridge, Prof Graham Virgo, told the Guardian: “It is a very significant challenge for people to disclose sexual misconduct or harassment; as a result we have designed the procedure with student choice at its heart, so students can choose for their complaint to be heard in a way that suits them.”

A University of Nottingham spokesperson told the Guardian: “There have been no such allegations from students, relating to university staff, in the past three years and less than 10 incidents in the two years prior to this. Similarly with regards [to] allegations of staff from staff there have been less than 10 allegations in the last five years. Clearly our range of initiatives and policies around this issue is helping to drive this message home.”

Cherwell has contacted Christ Church, Lady Margaret Hall, Lincoln, Pembroke, Regent’s Park, and The Queen’s College for comment.

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