It agreed with the 57 per cent of the junior common-room members who wanted the college to remain female,” she said. “I hope the college will now look to the future and will continue to promote itself as being essential for women’s academic excellence.”St Hilda’s is the alma mater of the Conservative former education secretary Gillian Shephard, the scientist and broadcaster Susan Greenfield and the Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer.Will Straw, president of Oxford University Student Union, who had backed the Lilac campaign, said: “I’m very happy. It’s really important that the fellowship of St Hilda’s backs the JCR and their reasons for wishing to remain single-sex.”But his view was opposed by about 25 women dressed head-to-toe in red, calling themselves the Anti-Lilac Campaign, claiming there had been a “repressive atmosphere” in the college. Jessica Lennard, 20, a law student, said: “We want to get rid of the unfair stereotype that if you go to St Hilda’s you are either a lesbian, completely insane or stupid.”Ailsa Longmuir, 20, who is also studying law, said the issue had led to constant arguments between students “This has split St Hilda’s down the middle. It has torn friendships apart,” she said.Two weeks ago, a referendum of St Hilda’s undergraduates found that 57 per cent were in favour of the college remaining single-sex. This was a marked decline from a referendum in 1997, when 78 per cent of students opposed the college admitting men.

Students in favour of change had argued that St Hilda’s would find it increasingly hard to attract students and fellows if it did not accept men. They believe the college is not attracting enough students who make it their first choice when they apply.St Hilda’s was ranked 21st of the 30 colleges in last year’s Norrington Table, an unofficial table of Oxford colleges’ academic performance.Advocates for change had also argued that admitting men would alleviate the college’s financial pressures. Equal opportunities legislation means that staff costs have to be met without assistance from the university, while mixed colleges receive subsidies.* The threat of strike action in more than 300 further education colleges was lifted yesterday when lecturers’ unions accepted a 3.5 per cent pay deal proposed by the Association of Colleges, representing college principals. The deal will also introduce a minimum pay rate of £5 an hour for support staff..

Concerns about the quantity and quality of training has prompted the University of Edinburgh – along with the Wellcome Trust, the NHS in Scotland and the Chief Scientist Office – to set up a programme to nurture the next generation of clinical researchers. Yet, there’s an enormous need for quality clinical research for bringing forward new developments in medicine. If you do research badly you don’t get the clear answers you need; for the safety of patients you need results that are robust.”The programme will involve a series of practical workshops for nurses, doctors and others involved in clinical research.¿ Plenty of postgraduate courses look at the extent and impact of environmental change but few address how to tackle it, says Professor Alan Werrity, head of the geography department at the University of Dundee. Dundee, in collaboration with the University of St Andrews, is aiming to fill the gap with a new MSc in Managing Environmental Change, starting in September.”We have tried to take the science behind environmental change and place it alongside training in things like environmental law, management and entrepreneurship, so graduates have a secure understanding of the issues and the skills to address some of these problems,” says Werrity.The universities were assisted by a forum of potential employers, including oil companies, regulatory bodies, local authorities, and environmental consultants, who suggested what they would like to see in graduates. “The basic feedback was that they needed more than just a science base,” says Werrity. “They need to be aware of the broader issues in environmental policy.”The course modules will examine environmental change over the past 10,000 years, including particular areas of environmental risk, such as flooding and coastal erosion and water quality. Other areas include environmental management and policy, environmental law in the UK and Brussels, and skills in areas such as geographic information systems and remote sensoring equipment.