About 200 students and academics were due to take part in a question and answer session after an address given by the president on Friday morning.

Mr Chirac was greeted by dignitaries including the university chancellor Chris Patten as he arrived at Rhodes House accompanied by his wife.

Mr Chirac is in Britain to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale.

He attended a gala performance of Les Miserables at Windsor as a guest of the Queen on Thursday night.