FEARS have been raised that Oxford dons will be pressurised into accepting less academic students, after the university accepted a £2 million gift in a deal with the Defence Minister of Saudi Arabia. Oxford has promised to help "expedite the application process" of ten scholarship students from the Prince Sultan University (PSU) over 25 years, and identify suitable colleges for them.
The arrangement has infuriated senior academics who are concerned that it will blur fundraising and academic objectives at the univeristy (sic). In a memorandum of understanding, Oxford thanks Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud for his "munificant (sic) benefaction to the Ashmolean museum [at Oxford]" in support of its Islamic gallery and the scholarships in the Prince's name. It said that four to six colleges would be found for the students, who should be "selected from those of the highest possible standard" and meet entrance requirements. It added that the university would "seek to expedite the application process" for the students.
The agreement was signed in May by Jon Dellandrea, the Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for international development at Oxford, and Dr Ahmed Yamani, the Rector of PSU. On its website*, PSU hailed the "academic co-operation agreement" as an historical moment, and said it identified "several specific actions in the fields of exchange of students and faculty members, research collaboration, course development and joint awards programmes".
Oxford has academic arrangements with other international universities, but critics point out that they are largely arranged between individual colleges and leading institutions, such as the Ivy League universities in America. PSU was established in 1999 and offers degrees including computer science, information systems, accounting and marketing, largely for men.
Nicholas Bamforth, a don at Queen's College, said that the deal showed a need for scrutiny of the university council. "I'm surprised the university did a deal with such a new institution that doesn't admit women to do the same range of degrees as men," he added.
John Hood, the Vice Chancellor, is trying to push through plans to reorganise university funds. His joint resources allocation method aims to make the finances of the university more transparent, and to split income between colleges and departments. Opponents of the proposal say the resources will be controlled more centrally and could persuade less well-off colleges to take undergraduates they do not want.
Sources at Oxford said that the PSU memorandum had not been agreed by the council and that it was not legally binding. It is also understood that students from PSU have been refused admission after failing the academic criteria. An Oxford spokesman said: "The application process to be 'expedited' referred to is the application process for financial support in the form of a scholarship, not the application process for a place of study. The document states that students will have to satisfy the admissions criteria in the same way as any other student."
* Some time after this Akme posting the Prince Sultan University's web pages recording its agreement with Oxford were changed. For the benefit of scholars, Akme has kept the original pages and here recreates them as a single file. Also click for Oxford's PR webpage (exits Akme).
Sir, Your report on Oxford and Prince Sultan University (Nov 3) expresses the fear that "Oxford dons will be pressurised into accepting less academic students". There is no basis for this fear.
Like other top universities, we are keen to attract able students from all over the world, and we have a long and distinguished tradition of academic links with the Middle East and Arab world. The memorandum of discussion with Prince Sultan University expresses our desire to develop these links, and bring well-qualified Saudi students to Oxford. Up to ten Saudi students over the next 25 years will benefit from a scholarship endowed by the Prince. The students will, of course, only be offered a place if they satisfy our admissions criteria. To suggest that the existence of a scholarship would guarantee a place at Oxford is to question the admission of many other students on scholarship schemes already studying here.
ELIZABETH FALLAIZE
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)
University of Oxford