We are told in one particularly silly legend: “Autumn changed into Winter… Winter changed into Spring… Spring changed back into Autumn and Autumn gave Winter and Spring a miss and went straight on into Summer…”
Unfortunately, such is not the case in York this year and so we find ourselves hurtling into week seven with a landscape of bare trees and a small army of aggressively festive jumpers parading flamboyantly around campus.
But now for something completely different, Vision casts its eye on the more remote corners of UK higher education landscape to find further examples of curiosity and intrigue.
There have been cries from some to administer a good spanking to the women of the University of Manchester, after it was revealed in a report by the examining board that they cheat twice as much as men. In one example, a student detailed how a friend studying Chemical Engineering had used scrawled notes on her chest to study later in the toilet.
Monty Python references aside, the former PM and plaything of the Commander-in- Chief Tony Blair has been jeered by the students of University College London after speaking at the opening of the ‘Institute for Security and Resilience Studies’. While administrators at UCL denied an affiliation, students pointed out that the new institute shares an address and senior staff with the University.
Disbelief has taken hold at Queens University Belfast, as they find themselves in uncharted territory – at the top of a league table. Looking at their peers in the top ten, they are likely to be equally surprised. Runners up include Herriot Watt (2), Bath Spa (3) and Sheffield Hallam (5). Unsurprisingly, it’s not about academic performance. Instead, drinking is the subject of the survey, which asked students to estimate their alcohol consumption over a week.
Food, as well as booze is off the menu for Oxonians, as Magdalen College students have boycotted catering facilities in protest at a £240 catering charge being imposed by the governing body.
While this week’s menu features grilled salmon with dill sauce, and asparagus soup, students have slammed the charge as regressive, and have set up soup kitchens instead, operating from ground floor windows and donating proceeds to charity.
The whole affair raises the question, why do catered students at this university tolerate charges well in excess of a mere £240? With an abundance of waterfowl and an expansive international population, I’d have the crispy duck over the Courtyard any day.