STUDENTS have banned clapping at Oxford University in case the noise triggers anxiety.

It will instead be replaced by the waving of hands - used in sign language for applause.

2 Oxford University SU has replaced clapping with jazz hands

Student union leaders hope it will make its meetings and events more accessible and inclusive to those with anxiety.

One former student fumed: "Oxford University Student Union is always seeking to be more accommodating.

"But this idea will not work and is completely ludicrous."

But Roisin McCallion, Vice President for Welfare and Equal Opportunities, said: "The policy was proposed in order to encourage the use of British Sign Language clapping during our democratic events to make those events more accessible and inclusive for all, including people who suffer from anxiety.

"Inclusivity is one of Oxford Students' Union's founding principles."

It comes after Manchester University passed a motion to do the same thing in September last year.

That decision caught the attention of Jeb Bush, the brother of the former US president George W Bush, who said: "Not cool, University of Manchester. Not cool."

TV presenter Piers Morgan also blasted the move, saying: "Britain's losing its mind".

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Meanwhile Jeremy Vine posted a picture of soldiers in the trenches during World War One, suggesting they had managed to "ignore the difficulties caused by sudden noises 100 years ago".

Jazz hands were adopted by the National Union of Students in 2015 on the basis that clapping "triggers anxiety".

Critics say such behaviour is typical of the "snowflake generation" of students, who are seen as over-sensitive.

2 Students perform jazz hands outside the student union at the University of Manchester