Portal:University of Oxford
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The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation. It grew rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk, some Oxford academics fled northeast to Cambridge, where, in 1209, they established the University of Cambridge. The two English ancient universities share many common features and are jointly referred to as Oxbridge.
The University of Oxford is made up of 43 constituent colleges, consisting of 36 semi-autonomous colleges, four permanent private halls and three societies (colleges that are departments of the university, without their own royal charter), and a range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions. Each college is a self-governing institution within the university, controlling its own membership and having its own internal structure and activities. All students are members of a college. The university does not have a main campus, but its buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre. Undergraduate teaching at Oxford consists of lectures, small-group tutorials at the colleges and halls, seminars, laboratory work and occasionally further tutorials provided by the central university faculties and departments. Postgraduate teaching is provided in a predominantly centralised fashion.
Oxford operates the Ashmolean Museum, the world's oldest university museum; Oxford University Press, the largest university press in the world; and the largest academic library system nationwide. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2023, the university had a total consolidated income of £2.92 billion, of which £789 million was from research grants and contracts.
Oxford has educated a wide range of notable alumni, including 31 prime ministers of the United Kingdom and many heads of state and government around the world. 73 Nobel Prize laureates, 4 Fields Medalists, and 6 Turing Award winners have matriculated, worked, or held visiting fellowships at the University of Oxford, while its alumni have won 160 Olympic medals. Oxford is the home of numerous scholarships, including the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the oldest international graduate scholarship programmes. (Full article...)
Selected article
The university's position of Keeper of the Archives dates from 1634, although its records pre-date this, and Oxford claims to have one of the longest continuous record-keeping traditions in Britain. Records were initially kept in the Priory of St Frideswide, moving to the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in the 14th century. The archives were left in considerable disarray by a burglary in 1544, and remained in chaos until Brian Twyne was appointed the first Keeper of the Archives in 1634 as a reward for his work preparing new statutes for the university. Under Twyne and his successor as Keeper (Gerard Langbaine), the archives were moved into one of the rooms in the Tower of the Five Orders in the Bodleian Library; three of the wooden presses that were built at that time to store them are still in use. The third to hold the position, John Wallis (pictured), prepared an index of the collection that was still used in the 20th century. (Full article...)
Selected biography
Selected college or hall
St Stephen's House is a theological college and one of the Permanent Private Halls (PPHs) of the University of Oxford. Unlike the colleges, which are run by their Fellows, PPHs are run by an outside institution – in the case of St Stephen's, the Church of England. It was founded in 1876 by Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln and one of the leading figures in the Tractarian movement, and became a PPH in 2003. It was originally located in the centre of Oxford on the site where the New Bodleian Library now stands, but moved soon afterwards to North Oxford. In 1980, it acquired a site in Iffley Road, East Oxford, that had been vacated by the Society of St. John the Evangelist. The current buildings contain the church of St John the Evangelist, designed by G F Bodley; accommodation is provided on site for married and single students. Part of the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church of England, it trains candidates for ordination and accepts other students for qualifications in Theology or Education. Alumni include David Hope (Archbishop of York), Glyn Simon (Archbishop of Wales), Jeffrey John (Dean of St Alban's) and Trevor Mwamba (Bishop of Botswana). (Full article...)
Selected image
![The chapel of Mansfield College. It opened in 1886 as the first non-conformist college in Oxford, although it only achieved full college status in 1995.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Mansfield_Chapel.jpg/640px-Mansfield_Chapel.jpg)
Credit: Brett Arnold |
Did you know
Articles from Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives about the university and people associated with it:
- ... that Cheshire landowner Rowland Egerton-Warburton (pictured) arranged for his house, Arley Hall, to be designed in Tudor style while the chapel was designed in Gothic style?
- ... that Herbert Armitage James, who was headmaster of Rugby School for 14 years, had one of the best stamp collections in England?
- ... that Marrack Goulding, a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, was Warden of St Antony's College from 1997 to 2006?
- ... that Clive Ponting was found not guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act by a jury even after the judge, Sir Anthony McCowan, summed up strongly in favour of the prosecution?
- ... that Ion Calvocoressi won an immediate Military Cross in Libya in 1942, and was married to the sister of Ludovic Kennedy for over 60 years?
Selected quotation
— Winifred Mary Letts, "The Spires of Oxford" (1916) |
Selected panorama
![Peckwater Quadrangle of Christ Church, built in the 18th century](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Peckwater-Quadrangle.jpg/640px-Peckwater-Quadrangle.jpg)
Credit: Fritz Saalfeld |
On this day
Events for 25 July relating to the university, its colleges, academics and alumni. College affiliations are marked in brackets.
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