OXFORD UNIVERSITY

The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University or simply Oxford) is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. While having no known date of foundation, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest surviving university. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled northeast to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge.[9] The two "ancient universities" are frequently jointly referred to as "Oxbridge".

The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges and a full range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions. All the colleges are self-governing institutions as part of the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities.Being a city university, it does not have a main campus; instead, all the buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre. Most undergraduate teaching at Oxford is organised around weekly tutorials at the self-governing colleges and halls, supported by classes, lectures and laboratory work provided by university faculties and departments.

Oxford is the home of several notable scholarships, including the Clarendon Scholarship which was launched in 2001 and the Rhodes Scholarship which has brought graduate students to study at the university for more than a century. The university operates the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system in the United Kingdom Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 27 Nobel laureates, 26 British prime ministers (most recently David Cameron, the incumbent) and many foreign heads of state

The University of Oxford has no known foundation date.Teaching at Oxford existed in some form as early as 1096, but it is unclear when a university came into being. It grew quickly in 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris. The historian Gerald of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the university was named a chancellor from at least 1201 and the masters were recognised as a universitas or corporation in 1231. The university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III.

After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge, later forming the University of Cambridge.

Aerial view of Merton College's Mob Quad, the oldest quadrangle of the university, constructed in the years from 1288 to 1378

The students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two "nations", representing the North (Northern or Boreales, which included the English people north of the River Trent and the Scots) and the South (Southern or Australes, which included English people south of the Trent, the Irish and the Welsh). In later centuries, geographical origins continued to influence many students' affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. In addition to this, members of many religious orders, including Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites and Augustinians, settled in Oxford in the mid-13th century, gained influence and maintained houses or halls for students.At about the same time, private benefactors established colleges to serve as self-contained scholarly communities. Among the earliest such founders were William of Durham, who in 1249 endowed University College, and John Balliol, father of a future King of Scots; Balliol College bears his name.Another founder, Walter de Merton, a Lord Chancellor of England and afterwards Bishop of Rochester, devised a series of regulations for college life; Merton College thereby became the model for such establishments at Oxford, as well as at the University of Cambridge. Thereafter, an increasing number of students forsook living in halls and religious houses in favour of living in colleges.

In 1333–34, an attempt by some dissatisfied Oxford scholars to found a new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King Edward III Thereafter, until the 1820s, no new universities were allowed to be founded in England, even in London; thus, Oxford and Cambridge had a duopoly, which was unusual in western European countries

The mid-19th century saw the impact of the Oxford Movement (1833–1845), led among others by the future Cardinal Newman. The influence of the reformed model of German university reached Oxford via key scholars such as Edward Bouverie Pusey, Benjamin Jowett and Max Müller.

The system of separate honour schools for different subjects began in 1802, with Mathematics and Literae HumanioresSchools for Natural Sciences and Law, and Modern History were added in 1853. By 1872, the latter was split into Jurisprudence and Modern History. Theology became the sixth honour school. In addition to these B.A. Honours degrees, the postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) was, and still is, offered.

Brasenose Lane in the city centre, a street onto which three colleges back – Brasenose, Lincoln and Exeter.

Administrative reforms during the 19th century included the replacement of oral examinations with written entrance tests, greater tolerance for religious dissent, and the establishment of four women's colleges. 20th-century Privy Council decisions (e.g. the abolition of compulsory daily worship, dissociation of the Regius Professorship of Hebrew from clerical status, diversion of colleges' theological bequests to other purposes) loosened the link with traditional belief and practice. Furthermore, although the university's emphasis traditionally had been on classical knowledge, its curriculum expanded in the course of the 19th century to encompass scientific and medical studies. Knowledge of Ancient Greek was required for admission until 1920, and Latin until 1960.

Organisation

The University of Oxford’s distinctive structure, born of its history, is a source of strength.

Oxford is a collegiate university, consisting of the central University and colleges. The central University is composed of academic departments and research centres, administrative departments, libraries and museums. The 38 colleges are self-governing and financially independent institutions, which are related to the central University in a federal system. There are also six permanent private halls, which were founded by different Christian denominations and which still retain their Christian character.

The different roles of the colleges and the University have evolved over time.

The colleges

Select and admit undergraduate students, and select graduate students after they are admitted by the University.

Provide accommodation, meals, common rooms, libraries, sports and social facilities, and pastoral care for their students.

Are responsible for tutorial teaching for undergraduates.

The University

Determines the content of the courses within which college teaching takes place.

Organises lectures, seminars and lab work.

Provides a wide range of resources for teaching and learning in the form of libraries, laboratories, museums, computing facilities, and so on.

Provides administrative services and centrally managed student services such as counselling and careers.

Admits and supervises graduate students, and examines theses.

Sets and marks examinations, and awards degrees.

The collegiate system is at the heart of the University’s success, giving students and academics the benefits of belonging both to a large, internationally renowned institution and to a small, interdisciplinary academic community. It brings together leading academics and students across subjects and year groups and from different cultures and countries, helping to foster the intense interdisciplinary approach that inspires much of the outstanding research achievement of the University and makes Oxford a leader in so many fields.

The University of Oxford began to award doctorates in the first third of the 20th century. The first Oxford DPhil in mathematics was awarded in 1921.

At the start of 1914 the university housed approximately three thousand undergraduates and about 100 postgraduate students. The First World War saw many undergraduates and fellows join the armed forces. By 1918 virtually all fellows were in uniform and the student population in residence was reduced to 12 per cent.The University Roll of Service records that, in total, 14,792 members of the university served in the war, with 2,716 (18.36 per cent) killed. During the war years the deserted university buildings became hospitals, cadet schools and military training camps.

The mid-20th century saw many distinguished continental scholars, displaced by Nazism and communism, relocating to Oxford.

The list of distinguished scholars at the University of Oxford is long and includes many who have made major contributions to British politics, the sciences, medicine, and literature. More than 50 Nobel laureates and more than 50 world leaders have been affiliated with the University of Oxford.

Women's education[edit]

Somerville College was founded as one of Oxford's first women's colleges in 1879. It is now fully co-educational.

The university passed a statute in 1875 allowing its delegates to create examinations for women at roughly undergraduate level. The first four women's colleges were established due to the activism of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women (AEW). Lady Margaret Hall (1878) was followed by Somerville College in 1879; the first 21 students from Somerville and Lady Margaret Hall attended lectures in rooms above an Oxford baker's shop.[38] The first two colleges for women were followed by St Hugh's (1886),[41] St Hilda's (1893) and St Anne's College (1952). In the early 20th century, Oxford and Cambridge were widely perceived to be bastions of male privilege, however the integration of women into Oxford moved forwards during the First World War. In 1916 women were admitted as medical students on a par with men, and in 1917 the University accepted financial responsibility for women's examinations On 7 October 1920 women became eligible for admission as full members of the university and were given the right to take degrees. In 1927 the university's dons created a quota that limited the number of female students to a quarter that of men, a ruling which was not abolished until 1957. However, before the 1970s all Oxford colleges were for men or women only, so that the number of women was limited by the capacity of the women's colleges to admit students. It was not until 1959 that the women's colleges were given full collegiate status.

In 1974, Brasenose, Jesus, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine's became the first previously all-male colleges to admit women.

In 2008, the last single-sex college, St Hilda's, admitted its first men, so that all colleges are now co-residential. By 1988, 40% of undergraduates at Oxford were female;[48] the ratio was about 46%:54% in men's favour for the 2012 undergraduate admission.

The detective novel Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, herself one of the first women to gain an academic degree from Oxford, is largely set in a (fictional) women's college at Oxford, and the issue of women's education is central to its plot.

Governance

Oxford's distinctive governance structure stems from its long history.

Congregation

Congregation is the sovereign body of the University and acts as its ‘parliament’. It has just over 5,000 members, including academic staff; heads and other members of governing bodies of colleges; and senior research, computing, library and administrative staff.

Congregation has responsibility for:

Approving changes to the University’s statutes and regulations;

Considering major policy issues submitted by Council or members of Congregation;

Electing members to Council and other University bodies, and approving the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor.

Council

Council is the University’s principal executive and policy-making body. It is responsible for the academic policy and strategic direction of the University, for its administration, and for the management of its finances and property. It has five major committees: Education Committee, General Purposes Committee, Personnel Committee, Planning and Resource Allocation Committee, and Research Committee.

Colleges

The 38 colleges, though independent and self-governing, form a core element of the University, to which they are related in a federal system. Each college is granted a charter approved by the Privy Council, under which it is governed by a Head of House and a Governing Body comprising of a number of Fellows, most of whom also hold University posts. There are also six Permanent Private Halls, which were founded by different Christian denominations, and still retain their religious character today.

The Conference of Colleges represents the common concerns of the colleges on Council, its committees, and the four Divisional Boards, and acts as a body for intercollegiate discussion and decision-making.

Divisions and departments

The University’s academic departments, faculties and research centres are grouped into four divisions: Humanities; Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences; Medical Sciences; and Social Sciences. Day-to-day decision-making in matters such as finance and planning is devolved to the divisions. The Department for Continuing Education is the responsibility of a separate board. 

Chancellor

The Chancellor, who is usually an eminent public figure elected for life, serves as the titular head of the University, presiding over all major ceremonies.

Vice-Chancellor

The Vice-Chancellor holds office for seven years and is the senior officer of the University.

Pro-Vice-Chancellors

Six Pro-Vice-Chancellors have specific responsibility for Academic Services and University Collections; Development and External Affairs; Education; Personnel and Equality; Planning and Resources; and Research. There are also up to ten Pro-Vice-Chancellors without portfolio who undertake a range of duties on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, including presiding at degree ceremonies and chairing electoral boards.