Questions about Europe’s political and financial challenges and the role of states within it were addressed on Friday at Magdalen College in an event entitled ‘The Future of European Integration’.

Co-hosted by the Oxford German Forum Society and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German political organisation associated with the Christian Democratic Union, the conference featured a number of prominent figures.

External events disrupted arrangements, as speakers were affected by heavy snowfall, and Prime Minister David Cameron’s long-awaited Europe speech, around which talks were expected to revolve, was postponed due to events in Africa. Oxford University Chancellor Lord Patten cancelled his appearance at the last minute.

Dr Niblett delivered the keynote speech, in which he said the path that lay ahead for Europe will be “messy but not desperate”, predicting that the UK will remain within the EU.

Discussions with a panel including Dr Robin Niblett, director of leading foreign-policy think-tank Chatham House, and Anthony Teasdale, director for EU Internal Policies in the European Parliament, involved analysis of the history of the European Union and current challenges such as monetary policy and accountability.

Stephane Roux, president of Oxford German Society, commented on the theme of the conference. “This year’s conference looks at internal challenges facing the European Union. Over the last few years, there have repeatedly been concerns about Germany’s dominant position in the handling of the Euro crisis. The UK, in turn, has been criticized for its euroscepticism – both countries are still in the process of finding their position in the European community.”

The Oxford German Forum Society was founded in 2010 by Maximilian Hoell, a former president of the German Society. Its goal is to provide a platform for students engaged in UK-German relationships to discuss current affairs with practitioners and experts. It hosted its inaugural forum ‘Embracing the Shift of Powers’ in May 2011.

The prosecution has opened its case at the Old Bailey against nine men, aged between 24 and 38, accused of sexually exploiting six under-age girls in the Oxford area.

The trial may take three months according to Judge Peter Rook, who has sworn in a jury of seven men and five women, telling them that emotion should not play a part in their deliberation.

The men were arrested as part of Thames Valley Police’s Operation Bullfinch, which saw 14 addresses raided across Oxford last March in an investigation headed by Detective Inspector Simon Morton.

The court heard that the nine men accused of sexually abusing young girls in Oxford “ensured girls were guarded so that they could not escape”.

The charges, spanning a period from 2004 to January of last year, relate to offences that are alleged to have been committed against girls aged between 11 and 16. They took 30 minutes to be read out in court.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were told that one alleged victim, who cannot be named, was “sold” to Mohammed Karrar at 11 to “cure her bad attitude”, then repeatedly raped by him and his brother, Bassam Karrar. 

The court was told that Mohammed Karrar charged other men £400 to £600 to rape the girl, now in her 20s, in a way she described as “torture” until she was 15. She also claimed to be injected with heroin.

After being impregnated by a member of the group at age 12, the court heard that Mohammed Karrar arranged for her to have an illegal abortion in a back-room in Reading. The girl claims she was also beaten for falling pregnant.

Jurors were also told that on one occasion Karrar heated a hair pin with a lighter and branded the girl’s buttock with the the letter M as he claimed to “own her”. The court heard she began self-harming and described her life as a “living hell”.

Noel Lucas QC, acting for the prosecution, opened the case at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, telling the court, “The evidence will show that these men, sometimes acting in groups and at other times separately, targeted vulnerable young girls between the ages of 11 and 12 and up to 15.

“The attention lavished on the girls at the outset was of course entirely insincere as it was merely a device to exploit their vulnerability.”

Mr Lucas told the court the defendants plied the girls with alcohol and introduced them to drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and heroin, until they became addicted and therefore dependent on their abusers.

He said, “It was in these ways the men came to exercise control over the girls who, because of their previous experiences and disturbed home lives, were likely to subject themselves to sexual exploitation and abuse.

“The depravity, and I use that word with care, of what was done to the complainants was extreme. The facts in this case will make you feel uncomfortable.

“Between acts of abuse sometimes stretching over days, the Oxford men ensured girls were guarded so that they could not escape.”

Of the 12-year-old victim, he said, “This brief summary of the very extensive and persistent abuse [the girl] suffered at the hands of Mohammed Karrar illustrates his view of her as something to be used and abused at will. If she had the courage to resist, he beat her. He branded her to make her his property and to ensure others knew it.”

Mr Lucas continued, “She frequently caught chlamydia. She was often covered in bruises and burns where the men had stubbed her with cigarettes.”

“If she refused to go they would threaten her, saying they would burn her house down and her brother would be burnt alive.”

A second alleged victim, 14, was reportedly attacked, beaten and raped by Bassam Kassar before a neighbour called the police. Officers found her “extremely distressed, crying and shaking”, before she told them she had been held against her will, raped and repeatedly smacked in the face. 

She also said she had been held under a shower and injected with a drug, but later dropped her complaint after being persuaded by another girl who was “seeing” her attacker, the court heard.

Jurors were told that another 14-year-old girl was burned with a lighter and threatened  if she refused to have sex with the men after meeting defendants Kamar Jamil, Anjum Dojar and Ahktar Dojar whilst living in a children’s home.

Mr Lucas told the court how she drank and took drugs “to the point of passing out because she knew what was expected of her”. He also said that the girl told a friend, “I have no choice. I just want to be loved. I’ve never been loved and this shows me love”.

The defendants, eight from Oxford and one from Berkshire, face 51 counts including rape, trafficking and organising prostitution between 2004 and 2012. They deny the charges, which relate to girls aged between 11 and 16.

The trial is expected to last until April. Defendants Kamar Jamil, Akhtar Dogar, Assad Hussain, Mohammed Karrar, Bassam Karrar, Mohammed Hussain, Zeeshan Ahmed, and Bidal Ahmed are all in custody.

A postgraduate applicant has filed court papers against St Hugh’s College for refusing to let him take up a conditional offer on grounds that he did not meet minimum funding requirements.

In allegations reported in the Observer, Damien Shannon, 26, accused the college of imposing financial conditions such that students are selected “on the basis of wealth, [excluding] those not in possession of it”.

It stated that Shannon argued that those without access to savings are “disproportionately discriminated against”. His claim will have its first hearing at Manchester County Court in February.

All postgraduate applicants to Oxford are required to demonstrate that in addition to their tuition fee, they can meet recommended living costs. This is currently set at £12,900 under the ‘financial guarantee’ that was agreed in 2010.

Shannon was awarded a place to read for an MSc in economic and social history in 2012/3, satisfying the academic requirement with a 2:1 degree from the Open University.

However, St Hugh’s asked him to show he had “resources totalling £21,082”. He could not meet this financial requirement, in spite of a £10,000 professional career development loan he obtained from the Co-operative Bank, which covered the cost of a £5,650 course fee plus a £2,532 college fee, but not the £12,900 advised for accommodation, utility, and general living purposes.

Speaking to Cherwell, Shannon maintained, “I have only objected to the living costs element of the financial guarantee, and have explicitly acknowledged the College’s right to ensure fees can be paid.” Shannon has not sought damages from the college.

He believed the college was in contravention of his human rights, declaring, “The right of access to Higher Education has been recognised by the European Court of Human Rights to be a civil right within the meaning of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

“I am demanding lawful treatment, not special treatment.”

According to the Observer, St Hugh’s denies the claim, though it does not deny that Shannon was turned down on financial grounds. It will argue that the financial assessment guards a student’s wellbeing so that there is no risk of academic focus being distracted by money worries.

Similarly, Oxford University said, “We consider a financial guarantee preferable for individual students’ welfare, as it prevents drop-outs and disruption part way through a course.”

A spokesperson for St Hugh’s said, “Oxford University’s requirement that postgraduate students provide a financial guarantee in order to take up their course place is made clear to potential applicants. The College has made fundraising for postgraduate scholarships a key priority.”

Shannon expressed scepticism at Oxford’s access efforts at postgraduate level. He remarked, “A student who is made an offer of study on their first undergraduate course in accordance with their examination results is able to draw on state-funded systems of support – such a system does not exist for postgraduates.”

The University however insisted it is “vocal” that postgraduate admissions be “truly needs-blind”, saying, “[Oxford] works very hard to make progress towards this aim, both by fundraising and by lobbying the government to enact measures such that graduates too have access to loans, ensuring postgraduate study is a possibility for all. We already offer more postgraduate financial support than most other UK universities. Our aim is to offer support right across the board.”

According to the University’s website, Shannon would have been eligible for only one scholarship programme, the Clarendon Fund Scholarships. These are assessed on “best past and proven potential” and automatically granted to 3% of graduate offer holders – mostly PhD students.

Shannon is seeking three orders to be given from the courts, involving the removal of Oxford University’s ‘financial guarantee’ on living costs and “a mandatory order that I be re-offered my place”. Counsel’s fees during the trial are expected to run to £25,000 over two days alone.

He has the support of his local MP in Salford, former Labour Cabinet minister Hazel Blears, who is currently chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group on social mobility.

The applicant’s actions come in the same month in which the postgraduate funding crisis was reported to be getting worse across UK universities in the face of continued fee increases.

St Hugh’s MCR President Thomas Liefländer lamented financial limitations on academically able graduates, telling Cherwell, “This case highlights that increasing the under-developed funding opportunities for graduates must be one of the University’s top priorities for the next years.”

Third-year undergraduate Sinead Doyle O’Neill found the criticism of her college in particular “unfortunate”. However, she said, “Oxford is ‘making efforts’ to be more accommodating to people from less affluent backgrounds, but this case shows where they could be making strides.

“Ultimately, this person was accepted to Oxford – an academic institution – based on his academic merit. In my view, this is sufficient, and my college’s demand for instant gratification has caused them to lose out on talent.”

William Golightly, St Hugh’s access and academic officer, commented, “I think it’s important we appreciate that the College has limited places and a limited reservoir of resources to support either graduates or undergraduates. As such I respect the college’s right to exercise discretion in best placing its resources.

“However I sympathise greatly with these grievances, and hopefully the case will spur the University on to reform its admissions system, as it regularly does. All institutions, Oxford no exception, have imperfections. This is not a case of social elitism, neither is it an issue exclusive to St Hugh’s, but is an Oxford-wide issue of financial constraints.”

OUSU President and former St John’s MCR President David J. Townsend said, “Financial access to postgraduate study at Oxford is a particular concern for OUSU, and we’ve made sure that it is a particular concern for the University too. The University launched a £100m matched-funding postgraduate scholarships scheme in October, but even with these successes, it will be a while before all postgraduates will be able to come here without having to seek private funds.

“Any financial guarantee system must therefore be run in as fair a manner as possible. OUSU recently raised concerns with the University over the ineligibility of predicted income and we will watch Damien’s case with interest.”