Oxford's Romance budding
The Valentines launch of the Oxford University dating website 'Oxford Romance' offers the opportunity for single students to find their perfect match on the internet.
The website, managed by Andy Hine and Dave Agrawal from St Anne's, and Katherine Richards from Brasenose, provides various services ranging from the viewing and creation of adverts for those 'seeking love', as well as the 'invite' service, which will send an anonymous email to someone you fancy to invite them to use the site.
The website has been running since last year, but Thursday's launch aims to attract more students to use the site. Prizes are also being offered for the best adverts. "Since publicity has begun, the amount of people logging on to the site has been doubling every day" says Agrawal.
The website, unique to Cambridge and Oxford universities, raises questions as to whether the Oxbridge environment is forcing students to find alternative means to find love. Surveys have suggested that Oxford students are having less sex than students at other universities, so, as David Agrawal says "any chance of speeding up the process of meeting someone is a good thing." Furthermore, Oxford Romance allows students to forge contacts in other colleges, escaping what Agrawal refers to as "college inbreeding".
Whether the website will be used seriously by students or not remains to be seen, but its potential is revealed by the testimonials of successful relationships that have already blossomed. As one Wadham student says: "It's all just a bit of a laugh really, but that doesn't mean that you won't log on one day and end up getting in contact with someone who could be perfect for you'.
14th Feb 2002