Oxford University’s student union has voted to stay in the National Union of Students by a substantial margin.
It joined counterparts at Cambridge, Warwick, Exeter and Worcester in deciding not to disaffiliate from the national body following the election of Malia Bouattia as NUS president.
In the second referendum Oxford SU had held on the subject in the space of two years, 3,409 voted to remain in the NUS, with 2,430 backing disaffiliation.
The relatively high turnout of 27.7 per cent - nearly 6,000 votes - reflected the levels of interest in a debate which has been fought in universities all over the country in recent months.
Lincoln, Newcastle and Hull student unions have voted to split from the NUS, while decisions from the respective bodies at Loughborough, Nottingham and York are still to come.
The Oxford result was announced after a week in which it was revealed that Ms Bouattia was found guilty of misconduct by the NUS last year over alleged antisemitic comments.
It then emerged that the Union of Jewish Students was aware of the investigation at the time, but chose not to release this information when Ms Bouattia ran for president.
Ms Bouattia has attracted criticism for comments made ahead of her election. She described Birmingham University, which has a large Jewish student population, as a “Zionist outpost” and referred to the “Zionist-led media”.
