Luxury dining under threat at Oxbridge

OXBRIDGE colleges could find it harder to stage luxurious dinners after a change in the way the elite universities are funded.

Cambridge and Oxford colleges get extra public money, mainly to pay for their system of one-to-one student tutorials, but also to subsidise catering and accommodation. Following a Government review, the extra money is set to be cut back by a third over the next 10 years.

Jennifer Rigby, bursar at Churchill college in Cambridge, said: "We have been told we can't cross-subsidise student accommodation and catering from the college fee."

Steve Gallagher, catering manager at Churchill, said accommodation charges may have to go up as a result and the food side was also being looked at. "It will affect the way the catering operations are run," he said. "It could mean reduced services or a reduction in formal dining."

Rigby, however, did not think the effects would be severe, as subsidies could be drawn from other funds. "I don't see us making swingeing cuts or swingeing increases in charges."

John Harris, chairman of the Oxford domestic bursars' committee, did not think catering would be affected by the cut as only a small amount was used to subsidise it. But he added: "There will be pressure on people like me to get back the money that's gone missing from other sources, such as conferences."

by David Shrimpton