Oxford University rugby players are being sent on hour-long 'good lad' courses in an attempt to combat the 'lad culture' prevalent on campus.

The topics to be discussed at the workshops will include sexual harassment, consent, 'lad banter' and team initiation ceremonies.

For the first time, the players must attend the anti-misogyny groups in order to take part in the inter-college knockout tournament, known as Cuppers.

Oxford University rugby players are being sent on anti-misogyny workshops to combat sexism on campus

The early signs are promising and it is hoped the campaign could be introduced across a range of university sports, such as football, hockey and cricket.

The scheme comes amid growing intolerance of the corrosive and pervasive 'lad culture' on university campuses.

It follows an NUS survey which found one in seven women has been the victim of serious sexual assault or serious physical violence.

The Good Lad initiative is headed by Dave Llewellyn, 27, an Oxford graduate and native Australian.

He told the Times: 'Everyone has a friend or knows someone who has been made to feel uncomfortable (as a result of sexism).

'But there was nowhere for guys like me and my friends, men who think of themselves as good guys, with good principles, to engage in the conversation.'

Oxford university newspaper 'The Newt' sparked outrage after it printed a joke (pictured above) about punching women during sex

The tasteless joke appeared at the top of page eight above a separate sports article and sparked outrage

In 2013, the Pembroke College rugby club were suspended after an email - entitled 'Free Pussy' - was sent out encouraging players to pick a fresher and spike her drink.

In the same year members of a drinking society at St Hugh's College were branded 'repugnant and sexist' for organising a pub crawl in which girls dressed as foxes in short skirts had to 'evade mauling' from the male students dressed as 'Huntsmen' in red jackets.

Earlier this year, the Newt, a publication distributed around New College, sparked outrage after printing a joke about punching women during sex.

The quote 'No I haven't punched a girl during sex. But never say never' was highlighted at the top of a page.

Ione Wells, pictured, was grabbed from behind by the Somali attacker in Chalk Farm, north London

'YOU WILL NOT WIN': THE COURAGEOUS OPEN LETTER BRAVE OXFORD STUDENT WROTE TO HER ATTACKER WHICH WENT VIRAL I cannot address this letter to you, because I do not know your name. I only know that you have just been charged with serious sexual assault and prolonged attack of a violent nature. And I have one question. When you were caught on CCTV following me through my neighbourhood, when you waited until I was on my own street to approach me, when you clapped your hand around my face until I could not breathe, when you pushed me to my knees until my face bled, when I wrestled with your hand just enough so that I could scream. When you dragged me by my hair, and when you smashed my head against the pavement and told me to stop screaming, when my neighbour saw you and shouted at you and you looked her in the eye and carried on kicking me. When you tore my bra in half from the sheer force you grabbed my breast, when you didn't reach for my belongings because you wanted my body, when you failed to have my body because all my neighbours and family came out, and you saw them … did you ever think of the people in your life? My community will not feel we are unsafe walking back home after dark. We will get on the last Tube home, and we will walk up our streets alone, because we will not ingrain or submit to the idea that we are putting ourselves in danger in doing so… Your community – even if you can't see it around you every day. It is there. It is everywhere. You underestimated mine. Or should I say ours? I could say something along the lines of, 'Imagine if it had been a member of your community,' but instead let me say this. There are no boundaries to community; there are only exceptions, and you are one of them. Advertisement

Two weeks ago, an Oxford University student wrote a defiant and moving open letter to the 17-year-old boy who assaulted her as she was walking home.

Ione Wells described the terror she endured when the youth pounced on her as she walked home from a Tube station.

This kickstarted the #NotGuilty campaign, which aims to prevent victims of sexual attacks being blamed for their ordeals.

In a separate case yesterday, former Oxford University student Elizabeth Ramey accused the university of failing properly to investigate her rape claim, which led to a legal review of its disciplinary policy.

She claimed women students were left at risk because the university would not investigate serious sexual assaults and instead referred cases to the police.

But her case was struck out by the High Court.

Judge Mr Justice Edis said Ms Ramey, who now lives and works in the United States, had no standing to challenge the new policy as she was no longer at the university and therefore had not been 'aggrieved by its application'.

The booklets distributed to the London School of Economics rugby club referred to girls as 'sloppy birds'

It went on to refer to girls as 'mingers' and 'beast-like', while saying the barmaids in the Three Tuns are 'tasty'

Elsewhere, the London School of Economics men's rugby club was banned last year after persistent 'misogynistic, sexist and homophobic' behaviour.

Members branded women 'slags, trollops, beast-like, sloppy and mingers' and joked about banning 'homosexual debauchery'.

Scattered throughout the printed leaflets were demeaning references to 'Poly' students, from supposedly inferior former Polytechnics which have since become other universities.