:University of Oxford

{{See also|Timeline of Oxford}}

File:Mob Quad from Chapel Tower.jpg's Mob Quad, the oldest quadrangle of the university, constructed between 1288 and 1378]]

File:John Speed's map of Oxford, 1605..jpg

File:Oxford - Balliol College - geograph.org.uk - 1329613.jpg, one of Oxford's oldest colleges]]

The University of Oxford's foundation date is unknown.{{Cite web |title=Preface: Constitution and Statute-making Powers of the University |url=https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/legislation/preface-constitution-and-statute-making-powers-of-the-university |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414213449/https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/legislation/preface-constitution-and-statute-making-powers-of-the-university |archive-date=14 April 2024 |access-date=4 January 2014 |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=Oxford}} In the 14th century, the historian Ranulf Higden wrote that the university was founded in the 10th century by Alfred the Great, but this story is apocryphal.{{Cite journal |last=Firth |first=Matthew |date=2024 |title=What's in a Name? Tracing the Origins of Alfred's 'the Great' |journal=English Historical Review |volume=139 |issue=596 |pages=1–32 |doi-access=free |doi=10.1093/ehr/ceae078 |issn=1477-4534 }} It is known that teaching at Oxford existed in some form as early as 1096, but it is unclear when the university came into being. Scholar Theobald of Étampes lectured at Oxford in the early 1100s.

It grew quickly from 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 had the title of chancellor from at least 1201, and the masters were recognised as a universitas or corporation in 1231.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AkJO3TAxMtwC |title=The History of the University of Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-19-951011-5 |editor-last=Catto, J. I. |volume=I: The Early Oxford Schools |page=49 |chapter=2 The University as a Corporate Body |access-date=14 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927195431/https://books.google.com/books?id=AkJO3TAxMtwC |archive-date=27 September 2023 |url-status=live}} The university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III.{{Cite book |last1=Ballard |first1=Adolphus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Qc2l3vpLagC&pg=PA222 |title=British Borough Charters 1216–1307 |last2=Tait |first2=James |date=31 October 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01034-4 |page=222 |language=la |access-date=13 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307161615/https://books.google.com/books?id=2Qc2l3vpLagC&pg=PA222 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |url-status=live}} After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge, later forming the University of Cambridge.{{Cite news |last=Davies |first=Mark |date=4 November 2010 |title='To lick a Lord and thrash a cad': Oxford 'Town & Gown' |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9158000/9158705.stm |url-status=live |access-date=3 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104002457/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9158000/9158705.stm |archive-date=4 January 2014}}

The students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two 'nations', representing the North (northerners or Boreales, who included the English people from north of the River Trent and the Scots) and the South (southerners or Australes, who included English people from south of the Trent, the Irish and the Welsh).{{Cite book |title=A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3: The University of Oxford |date=1954 |publisher=Victoria County History |editor-last=Salter |editor-first=H. E. |location=London |pages=1–38 |chapter=The University of Oxford |access-date=15 January 2014 |editor-last2=Lobel |editor-first2=Mary D. |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp1-38 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116132507/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63862 |archive-date=16 January 2014 |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last=Rashdall |first=H. |title=Universities of Europe |pages=iii, 55–60}} In later centuries, geographical origins continued to influence many students' affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. In addition, 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.{{Harvp|Brooke|Highfield|1988}} At about the same time, private benefactors established colleges 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;{{Cite book |last=Percival |first=Edward France |title=The Foundation Statutes of Merton College, Oxford}}{{Cite book |last=White |first=Henry Julian |title=Merton College, Oxford |date=1906}} Merton College thereby became the model for such establishments at Oxford,{{Cite book |last1=Martin |first1=G. H. |title=A history of Merton College, Oxford |last2=Highfield |first2=J. R. L. |date=1997}} as well as at the University of Cambridge. Thereafter, an increasing number of students lived in colleges rather than in halls and religious houses.

In 1333–1334, 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.{{Cite book |last=McKisack |first=May |title=The Fourteenth Century 1307–1399 |date=1963 |series=Oxford History of England |page=501}} 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 large western European countries.{{Cite book |last=Boorstin |first=Daniel J. |url=http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/learn/99AHLstuff.htm/Assignments.htm |title=The Americans; the Colonial Experience |date=1958 |publisher=Vintage |pages=[http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/learn/99AHLstuff.htm/Boorstin.htm 171–184] |author-link=Daniel J. Boorstin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624022409/http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/learn/99AHLstuff.htm/Boorstin.htm |archive-date=24 June 2010}}{{Harvp|Brooke|Highfield|1988|page=56}}

File:ChristChurchOxfordEngraving1742.jpg, 1742]]

The new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onwards. Among university scholars of the period were William Grocyn, who contributed to the revival of Greek language studies,{{cite web |title=William Grocyn {{!}} English educator |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Grocyn |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=11 January 2023 |language=en |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111022954/https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Grocyn |url-status=live }} and John Colet, the noted biblical scholar.{{cite web |title=John Colet {{!}} English theologian and educator |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Colet |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=11 January 2023 |language=en |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111022954/https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Colet |url-status=live }}

With the English Reformation and the breaking of communion with the Roman Catholic Church, recusant scholars from Oxford fled to continental Europe, settling especially at the University of Douai.{{Cite book|editor-last1=Moody|editor-first1=Theodore William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8M1p3ySwI4C&pg=PA618|title=Early Modern Ireland, 1534–1691|editor-last2=Martin|editor-first2=Francis Xavier|editor-last3=Byrne|editor-first3=Francis John|date=1991|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-820242-4|language=en |page=618}} The method of teaching at Oxford was transformed from the medieval scholastic method to Renaissance education, although institutions associated with the university suffered losses of land and revenues. As a centre of learning and scholarship, Oxford's reputation declined in the Age of Enlightenment; enrolments fell and teaching was neglected.{{Cite web |title=Oxford University {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/education/colleges-international/oxford-university |access-date=7 August 2023 |website=www.encyclopedia.com |archive-date=7 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807121833/https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/education/colleges-international/oxford-university |url-status=live }}

In 1636,William Laud, the chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury, codified the university's statutes.[https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/legislation/preface-constitution-and-statute-making-powers-of-the-university#collapse1380421/ Constitution and Statute-making Powers of the University] These, to a large extent, remained its governing regulations until the mid-19th century. Laud was also responsible for the granting of a charter securing privileges for the University Press, and he made significant contributions to the Bodleian Library, the main library of the university. From the beginnings of the Church of England as the established church until 1866, membership of the church was a requirement to graduate as a Bachelor of Arts, and "dissenters" were only permitted to be promoted to Master of Arts in 1871.{{cite web |title=Universities Tests Act 1871 |publisher=UK Parliament |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/34-35/26 |access-date=30 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193831/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/34-35/26 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live }} The university was a centre of the Royalist party during the English Civil War (1642–1649), while the town favoured the opposing Parliamentarian cause.{{cite web|title=Civil War: Surrender of Oxford|url=http://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/civil_war.html|work=Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme|publisher=Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board|year=2013|access-date=30 December 2015|archive-date=30 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200530010654/http://www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/civil_war.html|url-status=live}}

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Wadham College, founded in 1610, was the undergraduate college of Sir Christopher Wren. Wren was part of a brilliant group of experimental scientists at Oxford in the 1650s, the Oxford Philosophical Club, which included Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke. This group, which has at times been linked with Boyle's "Invisible College", held regular meetings at Wadham under the guidance of the college's Warden, John Wilkins, and the group formed the nucleus that went on to found the Royal Society.{{Cite ODNB |title=Invisible College (act. 1646–1647) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-95474 |access-date=21 February 2023 |year=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/95474}}

A major review of the university's statutes, some over 500 years old, was conducted in 1827. Among the changes made at this time was the removal of the requirement that students swear an oath of enmity towards a certain Henry Symeonis, who had murdered an Oxford student in the 13th century.{{cite web |first=Alice|last=Millea| title=The persistence of tradition: the curious case of Henry Symeonis | website=Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library | date=13 December 2023 | url=https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/archivesandmanuscripts/2023/12/13/the-persistence-of-tradition-the-curious-case-of-henry-symeonis/ | ref={{sfnref|Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library|2023}} | access-date=13 January 2025}}

Before reforms in the early 19th century, the curriculum at Oxford was notoriously narrow and impractical. Sir Spencer Walpole, a historian of contemporary Britain and a senior government official, had not attended any university. He said, "Few medical men, few solicitors, few persons intended for commerce or trade, ever dreamed of passing through a university career." He quoted the Oxford University Commissioners in 1852 stating: "The education imparted at Oxford was not such as to conduce to the advancement in life of many persons, except those intended for the ministry."{{cite book|author=Sir Spencer Walpole|title=History of Twenty-Five Years: vol 4: 1870–1875|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQ4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA137|year=1903|pages=136–37|access-date=3 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304050530/https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQ4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA137|archive-date=4 March 2017|url-status=live}} Nevertheless, Walpole argued:

{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100%; | Among the many deficiencies attending a university education there was, however, one good thing about it, and that was the education which the undergraduates gave themselves. It was impossible to collect some thousand or twelve hundred of the best young men in England, to give them the opportunity of making acquaintance with one another, and full liberty to live their lives in their own way, without evolving in the best among them, some admirable qualities of loyalty, independence, and self-control. If the average undergraduate carried from University little or no learning, which was of any service to him, he carried from it a knowledge of men and respect for his fellows and himself, a reverence for the past, a code of honour for the present, which could not but be serviceable. He had enjoyed opportunities... of intercourse with men, some of whom were certain to rise to the highest places in the Senate, in the Church, or at the Bar. He might have mixed with them in his sports, in his studies, and perhaps in his debating society; and any associations which he had this formed had been useful to him at the time, and might be a source of satisfaction to him in after life.{{Cite book|last1=Walpole|first1=Spencer|url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924088010115|title=The history of twenty-five years|editor-last1=Lyall|editor-first1=Alfred Comyn|date=1904|publisher=Longmans, Green and Co.|volume=3: 1870–1875 |page=140}}|sign=|source=}}

Out of the students who matriculated in 1840, 65% were sons of professionals (34% were Anglican ministers). After graduation, 87% became professionals (59% as Anglican clergy). Out of the students who matriculated in 1870, 59% were sons of professionals (25% were Anglican ministers). After graduation, 87% became professionals (42% as Anglican clergy).William D. Rubinstein, "The social origins and career patterns of Oxford and Cambridge matriculants, 1840–1900." Historical Research 82.218 (2009): 715–730, data on pages 719 and 724.For more details see Mark C. Curthoys, "Origins and Destinations: the social mobility of Oxford men and women" in Michael G. Brock and Mark C. Curthoys, eds. The History of the University of Oxford Volume 7: Nineteenth-Century (2000) part 2, pp 571–95.

M. C. Curthoys and H. S. Jones argue that the rise of organised sport was one of the most remarkable and distinctive features of the history of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was carried over from the athleticism prevalent at the public schools such as Eton, Winchester, Shrewsbury, and Harrow.{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1080/0046760950240403|title = Oxford athleticism, 1850-1914: A reappraisal|journal = History of Education|volume = 24|issue = 4|pages = 305–317|year = 1995|last1 = Curthoys|first1 = M. C.|last2 = Jones|first2 = H. S.|issn=0046-760X }}

All students, regardless of their chosen area of study, were required to spend (at least) their first year preparing for a first-year examination that was heavily focused on classical languages. Science students found this particularly burdensome and supported a separate science degree with Greek language study removed from their required courses. This concept of a Bachelor of Science had been adopted at other European universities (London University had implemented it in 1860) but an 1880 proposal at Oxford to replace the classical requirement with a modern language (like German or French) was unsuccessful. After considerable internal wrangling over the structure of the arts curriculum, in 1886 the "natural science preliminary" was recognised as a qualifying part of the first year examination.{{Cite book|editor-last1=Brock|editor-first1=Michael G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3bDAWHbXgi4C&pg=PA355|title=The History of the University of Oxford: Nineteenth-Century Oxford, Volumes 6–7|editor-last2=Curthoys|editor-first2=Mark C.|date=1997|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-951016-0|language=en|page=355|access-date=7 February 2019|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927195459/https://books.google.com/books?id=3bDAWHbXgi4C&pg=PA355#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}

At the start of 1914, the university housed about 3,000 undergraduates and about 100 postgraduate students. During the First World War, many undergraduates and fellows joined the armed forces. By 1918 virtually all fellows were in uniform, and the student population in residence was reduced to 12 per cent of the pre-war total.{{cite book|title=History of the University of Oxford: Volume VIII: The Twentieth Century – Oxford Scholarship|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229742.001.0001|year=1994|isbn=978-0-19-822974-2|last1=Harrison|first1=Brian|last2=Aston|first2=Trevor Henry}} The University Roll of Service records that, in total, 14,792 members of the university served in the war, with 2,716 (18.36%) killed.{{cite web|title=Oxford university roll of service: University of Oxford: Free Download & Streaming|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforduniversity00univuoft|website=Internet Archive|access-date=10 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311003438/https://archive.org/details/oxforduniversity00univuoft|archive-date=11 March 2016|url-status=live}} Not all the members of the university who served in the Great War were on the Allied side; there is a remarkable memorial to members of New College who served in the German armed forces, bearing the inscription, 'In memory of the men of this college who coming from a foreign land entered into the inheritance of this place and returning fought and died for their country in the war 1914–1918'. During the war years the university buildings became hospitals, cadet schools and military training camps.

Two parliamentary commissions in 1852 issued recommendations for Oxford and Cambridge. Archibald Campbell Tait, a former headmaster of Rugby School, was a key member of the Oxford Commission; he wanted Oxford to follow the German and Scottish model in which the professorship was paramount. The commission's report envisioned a centralised university run predominantly by professors and faculties, with a much stronger emphasis on research. The professional staff should be strengthened and better paid. For students, restrictions on entry should be dropped, and more opportunities given to poorer families. It called for an enlargement of the curriculum, with honours to be awarded in many new fields. Undergraduate scholarships should be open to all Britons. Graduate fellowships should be opened up to all members of the university. It recommended that fellows be released from an obligation for ordination. Students were to be allowed to save money by boarding in the city, instead of in a college.{{cite book|author=Sir Spencer Walpole|title=History of Twenty-Five Years: vol 4: 1870–1875|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQ4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA151|year=1903|pages=145–51|access-date=4 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305090139/https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQ4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA151|archive-date=5 March 2017|url-status=live}}{{Cite journal |jstor = 4127167|title = Oxford and the Idea of a University in Nineteenth-Century Britain|journal = Oxford Review of Education|volume = 30|issue = 4|pages = 575–592|last1 = Goldman|first1 = Lawrence|year = 2004}}

The system of separate honour schools for different subjects began in 1802, with Mathematics and Literae Humaniores. Schools of "Natural Sciences" and "Law, and Modern History" were added in 1853.{{cite book |pages=208–209 |last=Boase |first=Charles William |author-link=Charles William Boase |year=1887 |title=Oxford |edition=2nd |url=http://purl.ox.ac.uk/uuid/743404c6bb6c4b16880e9dfce4000622 |access-date=3 February 2013 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927195935/http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/N12449022.pdf |url-status=live }} By 1872, the last of these had split into "Jurisprudence" and "Modern History". Theology became the sixth honour school.{{Citation| title = The New Examination Statues | publisher = Clarendon Press | place = Oxford | year = 1872 | url = http://purl.ox.ac.uk/uuid/4a66e363bf9544a8b81e48fe1335e4f6| access-date =4 February 2013 }} In addition to these B.A. Honours degrees, the postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) was, and still is, offered.{{Citation| title = The New Examination Statues | publisher = Clarendon Press | place = Oxford | year = 1873 | url = http://purl.ox.ac.uk/uuid/0ccd63bb36204432baafdcd706508ea4| access-date =4 February 2013 }}

The mid-19th century saw the impact of the Oxford Movement (1833–1845), led among others by the future Cardinal John Henry Newman. 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. Privy Council decisions in the 20th century (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 had historically been on classical knowledge, its curriculum expanded during the 19th century to include scientific and medical studies.

The University of Oxford began to award doctorates for research in the first third of the 20th century. The first Oxford DPhil in mathematics was awarded in 1921.{{cite web|first=John |last=Aldrich |url=http://www.economics.soton.ac.uk/staff/aldrich/Doc1.htm |title=The Maths PhD in the UK: Notes on its History – Economics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304103452/http://www.economics.soton.ac.uk/staff/aldrich/Doc1.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 }} The list of distinguished scholars at the University of Oxford is long and includes many who have made major contributions to politics, the sciences, medicine, and literature. As of October 2022, 73 Nobel laureates and more than 50 world leaders have been affiliated with the University of Oxford.

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{{see also|Delegacy for Women Students|First women admitted to degrees at the University of Oxford}}

The university passed a statute in 1875 allowing examinations for women at roughly undergraduate level;{{cite magazine|first=Frances|last=Lannon|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/404111.article|title=Her Oxford|magazine=Times Higher Education|date=30 October 2008|access-date=27 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191641/http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/404111.article|archive-date=2 January 2014|url-status=live}} for a brief period in the early 1900s, this allowed the "steamboat ladies" to receive ad eundem degrees from the University of Dublin.{{cite web|url=http://trinitynews.ie/trinity-halls-steamboat-ladies/|title=Trinity Hall's Steamboat Ladies|publisher=Trinity news|date=14 March 2012|access-date=9 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212042531/http://trinitynews.ie/trinity-halls-steamboat-ladies/|archive-date=12 December 2013|url-status=live}} In June 1878, the Association for the Education of Women (AEW) was formed, aiming for the eventual creation of a college for women in Oxford. Some of the more prominent members of the association were George Granville Bradley, T. H. Green and Edward Stuart Talbot. Talbot insisted on a specifically Anglican institution, which was unacceptable to most of the other members. The two parties eventually split, and Talbot's group founded Lady Margaret Hall in 1878, while T. H. Green founded the non-denominational Somerville College in 1879.Alden's Oxford Guide. Oxford: Alden & Co., 1958; pp. 120–21 Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville opened their doors to their first 21 students (12 at Somerville, 9 at Lady Margaret Hall) in 1879, who attended lectures in rooms above an Oxford baker's shop. There were also 25 women students living at home or with friends in 1879, a group which evolved into the Society of Oxford Home-Students and in 1952 into St Anne's College.{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp351-353|title=St. Anne's College|publisher=british-history.ac.uk|access-date=2 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002180544/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp351-353|archive-date=2 October 2018|url-status=live}}

These first three societies for women were followed by St Hugh's (1886){{cite web|url=http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/about-sthughs/history-of-the-college|title=History of the College|publisher=St Hugh's College, University of Oxford|access-date=14 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140618060830/http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/about-sthughs/history-of-the-college|archive-date=18 June 2014|url-status=dead}} and St Hilda's (1893).{{cite web|url=http://www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/index.php/history/histconst.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423094628/http://www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/index.php/history/histconst.html |archive-date=23 April 2012 |title=Constitutional History |publisher=St Hilda's College |access-date=25 March 2013 |url-status=dead}} All of these colleges later became coeducational, starting with Lady Margaret Hall and St Anne's in 1979,{{Cite web|url=http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/about-lmh/history-and-archives/college-timeline|title=College Timeline {{!}} Lady Margaret Hall|website=Lady Margaret Hall|language=en|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827215801/http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/about-lmh/history-and-archives/college-timeline|archive-date=27 August 2017|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/about/history|title=Our History|website=St Anne's College, Oxford |language=en|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428063923/http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/about/history|archive-date=28 April 2014|url-status=live}} and finishing with St Hilda's, which began to accept male students in 2008.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/women-at-oxford|title=Women at Oxford |website=University of Oxford |language=en|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507034832/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/women-at-oxford|archive-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live}} In the early 20th century, Oxford and Cambridge were widely perceived to be bastions of male privilege;{{cite web|first=Joyce S.|last=Pedersen|url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=453|title=Book review (No Distinction of Sex? Women in British Universities, 1870–1939)|publisher=H-Albion |website=H-Net Reviews |date=May 1996|access-date=14 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917151721/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=453|archive-date=17 September 2011|url-status=live}} however, the integration of women into Oxford moved forward 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.{{cite book|year=1965|title=Handbook to the University of Oxford|publisher=University of Oxford|page=43}} 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, during this period Oxford colleges were single sex, so the number of women was also 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.{{cite web |last=Smith |first=David |date=n.d. |title=St Anne's College: 1952 – 2012 |url=https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/St._Annes_History_Brochure_David_Smith.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406052535/https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/St._Annes_History_Brochure_David_Smith.pdf |archive-date=6 April 2024 |archive-format=PDF |access-date=2 October 2018 |website=St Anne's College |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=Oxford |quote="Only in 1959 did the five women's colleges acquire full collegiate status so that their councils became governing bodies and they were, like the men's colleges, fully self-governing."}}

In 1974, Brasenose, Jesus, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine's became the first previously all-male colleges to admit women.{{cite web |date=29 July 1999 |title=Colleges mark anniversary of 'going mixed' |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1998-9/weekly/290799/news/story_3.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130428103218/http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1998-9/weekly/290799/news/story_3.htm |archive-date=28 April 2013 |access-date=12 March 2012 |website=University of Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Gazette |language=en-GB |publication-place=Oxford}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/introducing_oxford/women_at_oxford/index.html |title=Women at Oxford |publisher=University of Oxford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304201310/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/introducing_oxford/women_at_oxford/index.html |archive-date=4 March 2012 |url-status=dead}} The majority of men's colleges accepted their first female students in 1979, with Christ Church following in 1980,{{cite book |last=Brockliss |first=Laurence |date=2016 |title=The University of Oxford: A History |page=573}} and Oriel becoming the last men's college to admit women in 1985.{{Cite news|url=http://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/about-college/college-history|title=College History {{!}} Oriel College|date=26 November 2015|work=Oriel College|access-date=4 May 2018|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413053243/http://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/about-college/college-history|archive-date=13 April 2018|url-status=live}} Most of Oxford's graduate colleges were founded as coeducational establishments in the 20th century, with the exception of St Antony's, which was founded as a men's college in 1950 and began to accept women only in 1962.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/about-st-antonys/history|title=History {{!}} St Antony's College|website=sant.ox.ac.uk|date=3 December 2014 |language=en|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031441/https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/about-st-antonys/history|archive-date=1 December 2017|url-status=live}} By 1988, 40% of undergraduates at Oxford were female;{{Cite journal|first=Jenifer|last=Hart|title=Women at Oxford since the Advent of Mixed Colleges|journal=Oxford Review of Education|volume=15|issue=3|pages=217–219|year=1989|doi=10.1080/0305498890150302 |jstor=1050413}} in 2016, 45% of the student population, and 47% of undergraduate students, were female.{{cite web|url=https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/DetailTable?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no|title=University of Oxford Student Statistics: Detail Table|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205183306/https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/DetailTable?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no|archive-date=5 December 2017|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/student-numbers?wssl=1|title=Student numbers|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915101523/https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/student-numbers?wssl=1|archive-date=15 September 2017}}

In June 2017, Oxford announced that starting the following academic year, history students may choose to sit a take-home exam in some courses, with the intention that this will equalise rates of firsts awarded to women and men at Oxford.{{cite news|last1=Sian Griffiths|last2=Julie Henry|title=Oxford 'takeaway' exam to help women get firsts|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/oxford-takeaway-exam-to-help-women-get-firsts-0v0056k8l|access-date=13 June 2017|work=The Times|quote=History students will be able to sit a paper at home in an effort to close the gap with the number of men getting top degrees|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611171840/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/oxford-takeaway-exam-to-help-women-get-firsts-0v0056k8l|archive-date=11 June 2017|url-status=live}} That same summer, maths and computer science tests were extended by 15 minutes, in a bid to see if female student scores would improve.{{cite news|last1=Diver|first1=Tony|title=Oxford University gives women more time to pass exams|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/01/22/oxford-university-gives-women-time-pass-exams/|access-date=24 January 2018|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=22 January 2018|quote=Students taking maths and computer science examinations in the summer of 2017 were given an extra 15 minutes to complete their papers, after dons ruled that "female candidates might be more likely to be adversely affected by time pressure"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123231746/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/01/22/oxford-university-gives-women-time-pass-exams/|archive-date=23 January 2018|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |url=https://qz.com/1188135/oxford-gave-female-students-more-time-to-take-tests-it-didnt-work/ |title=Oxford gave female students more time to take tests. It didn't work |date=24 January 2018 |access-date=24 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124220255/https://qz.com/1188135/oxford-gave-female-students-more-time-to-take-tests-it-didnt-work/ |archive-date=24 January 2018 |url-status=live }}

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 the all-female Shrewsbury College, Oxford (based on Sayers' own Somerville College[http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3606/Dorothy-L-Sayers.html Somerville Stories – Dorothy L Sayers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005002943/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3606/Dorothy-L-Sayers.html |date=5 October 2013 }}, Somerville College, University of Oxford, UK.), and the issue of women's education is central to its plot. Social historian and Somerville College alumna Jane Robinson's book Bluestockings: A Remarkable History of the First Women to Fight for an Education gives a very detailed and immersive account of this history.{{Cite news|url=https://blue-stocking.org.uk/2017/03/09/a-conversation-with-jane-robinson-on-bluestockings/|title=A Conversation with Jane Robinson on Bluestockings|date=9 March 2017|work=Bluestocking Oxford|access-date=4 May 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504225627/https://blue-stocking.org.uk/2017/03/09/a-conversation-with-jane-robinson-on-bluestockings/|archive-date=4 May 2018|url-status=live}}

{{Panorama|image = 1 oxford aerial panorama 2016.jpg|height= 300px|caption = Scrollable image. Aerial 2016 panorama of the university}}

{{University of Oxford Map|colleges=yes|halls=yes|background=none}}

{{Clear}}

File:Chemistry Research Laboratory Atrium.JPG; the university has invested heavily in new facilities at the laboratory in recent years.]]

File:Sheldonian Theatre Oxford.jpg, built by Christopher Wren between 1664 and 1668, hosts the university's Congregation and its concerts and degree ceremonies.]]

The university is a "city university" in that it does not have a main campus; instead, colleges, departments, accommodation, and other facilities are scattered throughout the city centre. The Science Area, in which most science departments are located, is the area that bears closest resemblance to a campus. The ten-acre (4-hectare) Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in the northwest of the city is currently under development.

Iconic university buildings include the Radcliffe Camera, the Sheldonian Theatre used for music concerts, lectures, and university ceremonies, and the Examination Schools, where examinations and some lectures take place. The University Church of St Mary the Virgin was used for university ceremonies before the construction of the Sheldonian.

In 2012–2013, the university built the controversial one-hectare (400 m × 25 m) Castle Mill development of 4–5-storey blocks of student flats overlooking Cripley Meadow and the historic Port Meadow, blocking views of the spires in the city centre.{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/universities-and-colleges/9912968/Philip-Pullman-campaigns-for-demolition-of-brutal-new-Oxford-University-buildings.html | title=Philip Pullman condemns Port Meadow buildings | first=Gordon | last=Rayner | date=6 March 2013 | work=Daily Telegraph | access-date=18 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309121431/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/universities-and-colleges/9912968/Philip-Pullman-campaigns-for-demolition-of-brutal-new-Oxford-University-buildings.html | archive-date=9 March 2013 | url-status=live }} The development has been likened to building a "skyscraper beside Stonehenge".{{cite news| title=Historian takes university to task over 'visual disaster' of Port Meadow flats |first=Reg | last=Little | work=The Oxford Times| page=3 | date=7 February 2013 }}

File:Oxford Botanic Garden, Magdalen Tower.jpg]]

The University Parks are a 70-acre (28 ha) parkland area in the northeast of the city, near Keble College, Somerville College and Lady Margaret Hall. It is open to the public during daylight hours. There are also various college-owned open spaces open to the public, including Bagley Wood and most notably Christ Church Meadow.{{cite web |url=http://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/395-732/Biological-Sciences-.html |title=Biological Sciences – St John's College Oxford |publisher=Sjc.ox.ac.uk |access-date=16 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018072117/http://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/395-732/Biological-Sciences-.html |archive-date=18 October 2013 |url-status=live }}

The Botanic Garden on the High Street is the oldest botanic garden in the UK. It contains over 8,000 different plant species on {{convert|1.8|ha|acre|frac=2|abbr=on}}. It is one of the most diverse yet compact major collections of plants in the world and includes representatives of over 90% of the higher plant families. The Harcourt Arboretum is a {{convert|130|acre|ha|adj=on}} site {{convert|6|mi|km|spell=in}} south of the city that includes native woodland and {{convert|67|acre|ha|abbr=off}} of meadow. The {{convert|1000|acre|km2|adj=on}} Wytham Woods are owned by the university and used for research in zoology and climate change.[https://www.wythamwoods.ox.ac.uk/research-woods "Wytham Woods: Research"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180407/https://www.wythamwoods.ox.ac.uk/research-woods |date=7 December 2023 }}, wythamwoods.ox.ac.uk, accessed 17 October 2023

==Organisation==

{{See also|Category:Departments of the University of Oxford}}Colleges arrange the tutorial teaching for their undergraduates, and the members of an academic department are spread around many colleges. Though certain colleges do have subject alignments (e.g., Nuffield College as a centre for the social sciences), these are exceptions, and most colleges will have a broad mix of academics and students from a diverse range of subjects. Facilities such as libraries are provided on all these levels: by the central university (the Bodleian), by the departments (individual departmental libraries, such as the English Faculty Library), and by colleges (each of which maintains a multi-discipline library for the use of its members).{{Cite web |last=McKnight |first=Owen |title=Oxford LibGuides: A-Z of college libraries: Home |url=https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/c.php?g=422891&p=2887902 |access-date=2024-05-17 |website=libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk |language=en |archive-date=17 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240517114602/https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/c.php?g=422891&p=2887902 |url-status=live }}

File:Wellington Square Oxford 1.jpg has become synonymous with the university's central administration.]]

The university's formal head is the chancellor{{anchor|Chancellor of the University of Oxford}}, with Lord Hague of Richmond expected to be inaugurated in early 2025{{cite web|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-11-27-lord-hague-richmond-elected-new-chancellor-oxford-university|title=Lord Hague of Richmond elected as new Chancellor of Oxford University|date=27 November 2024|via=Google }} although, as at most British universities, the chancellor is a titular figurehead and is not involved with the day-to-day running of the university. The chancellor is elected by the members of convocation, a body comprising all graduates of the university, and may hold office until death.{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B7kUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA24|title=The Oxford University Calendar 1817|date=24 June 2017|via=Google Books}}

The vice-chancellor, currently Irene Tracey, is the de facto head of the university. Five pro-vice-chancellors have specific responsibilities for education; research; planning and resources; development and external affairs; and personnel and equal opportunities.

Two university proctors, elected annually on a rotating basis from any two of the colleges, are the internal ombudsmen who make sure that the university and its members adhere to its statutes. This role incorporates student discipline and complaints, as well as oversight of the university's proceedings.{{cite web |url=https://www.proctors.ox.ac.uk/ |title=The Proctors' Office |author= |website=University of Oxford |access-date=26 December 2020 |archive-date=23 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223203211/https://www.proctors.ox.ac.uk/ |url-status=live }} The university's professors are collectively referred to as the Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford. They are particularly influential in the running of the university's graduate programmes. Examples of statutory professors are the Chichele Professorships and the Drummond Professor of Political Economy.

The University of Oxford is a "public university" in the sense that it receives some public money from the government, but it is a "private university" in the sense that it is entirely self-governing and, in theory, could choose to become entirely private by rejecting public funds.{{cite web |last1=Dennis |first1=Farrington |last2=Palfreyman |first2=David |date=21 February 2011 |title=OFFA and £6000–9000 tuition fees |url=https://oxcheps.new.ox.ac.uk/papers/OxCHEPS_OP39.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240901003530/https://oxcheps.new.ox.ac.uk/papers/OxCHEPS_OP39.pdf |archive-date=1 September 2024 |archive-format=PDF |access-date=20 March 2011 |work=OxCHEPS Occasional Paper No. 39 |publisher=Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies |language=en-GB |publication-place=Oxford |quote=Note, however, that any university which does not want funding from HEFCE can, as a private corporation, charge whatever tuition fees it likes (exactly as does, say, the University of Buckingham or BPP University College). Under existing legislation and outside of the influence of the HEFCE-funding mechanism upon universities, Government can no more control university tuition fees than it can dictate the price of socks in Marks & Spencer. Universities are not part of the State and they are not part of the public sector; Government has no reserve powers of intervention even in a failing institution.}}

{{Main|Colleges of the University of Oxford}}

File:Tom Quad, Christ Church, Oxford.jpg, Christ Church]]

File:UK-2014-Oxford-Worcester College 02.jpg]]

File:Christ Church Great Hall, July 25, 2023.jpg

To be a member of the university, all students, and most academic staff, must also be a member of a college or hall. There are thirty-nine colleges of the University of Oxford and four permanent private halls (PPHs), each controlling its membership and with its own internal structure and activities.{{cite web|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/colleges/introducing-colleges|title=What is an Oxford college?|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=31 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316233819/https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/colleges/introducing-colleges|archive-date=16 March 2023|url-status=live}} Not all colleges offer all courses, but they generally cover a broad range of subjects.

The colleges are:

{{columns-list|colwidth=12em|

• All Souls College
• Balliol College
• Brasenose College
• Christ Church
• Corpus Christi College
• Exeter College
• Green Templeton College
• Harris Manchester College
• Hertford College
• Jesus College
• Keble College
• Kellogg College
• Lady Margaret Hall
• Linacre College
• Lincoln College
• Magdalen College
• Mansfield College
• Merton College
• New College
• Nuffield College
• Oriel College
• Pembroke College
• The Queen's College
• Reuben College
• St Anne's College
• St Antony's College
• St Catherine's College
• St Cross College
• St Edmund Hall
• St Hilda's College
• St Hugh's College
• St John's College
• St Peter's College
• Somerville College
• Trinity College
• University College
• Wadham College
• Wolfson College
• Worcester College

}}

The permanent private halls were founded by different Christian denominations. One difference between a college and a PPH is that whereas colleges are governed by the fellows of the college, the governance of a PPH resides, at least in part, with the corresponding Christian denomination. The four current PPHs are:

• Blackfriars Hall
• Campion Hall
• Regent's Park College
• Wycliffe Hall

The PPHs and colleges join as the Conference of Colleges, which represents the common concerns of the several colleges of the university, to discuss matters of shared interest and to act collectively when necessary, such as in dealings with the central university.{{cite web |url=http://www.confcoll.ox.ac.uk/ |title=Conference of Colleges |publisher=Confcoll.ox.ac.uk |access-date=16 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913052216/http://www.confcoll.ox.ac.uk/ |archive-date=13 September 2017 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/access/content/group/test1-conf-coll/Public%20Documents/conf_coll_leaflet_web%20final.pdf |title=Who we are, what we do – The Conference of Colleges |publisher=Oxford University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022010939/https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/access/content/group/test1-conf-coll/Public%20Documents/conf_coll_leaflet_web%20final.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2013 |url-status=dead}} The Conference of Colleges was established as a recommendation of the Franks Commission in 1965.{{cite web|url=http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/councilsec/gov/gov_expl/ |title=A brief history and overview of the university's governance arrangements (see footnote 1) |publisher=Admin.ox.ac.uk |access-date=16 August 2013 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130804172404/http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/councilsec/gov/gov_expl/ |archive-date=4 August 2013 }}

Teaching members of the colleges (i.e. fellows and tutors) are collectively and familiarly known as dons, although the term is rarely used by the university itself. In addition to residential and dining facilities, the colleges provide social, cultural, and recreational activities for their members. Colleges have responsibility for admitting undergraduates and organising their tuition; for graduates, this responsibility falls upon the departments.

File:1 christ church hall 2012.jpg; the hall is an important feature of the typical Oxford college, providing a place to dine and socialise.]]

In the financial year ending 31 July 2024, the University of Oxford (excluding colleges) had a total group income of £3.054 billion (2022/23 – £2.829 billion) and total expenditure of £2.263 billion (2022/23 – £2.581 billion). Key sources of income included £551 million from tuition fees and education contracts (2022/23 – £504.2 million), £224.7 million from funding body grants (2022/23 – £229.2 million), £778.9 million from research grants and contracts (2022/23 – £789 million), £746.8 million from publishing services (2022/23 – £753 million) £197.2 million from investment income (2022/23 – £180.5 million) and £238 million from donations and endowments (2022/23 – £186.9 million).

At year end, Oxford (excluding colleges) had endowments of £1.912 billion (2023 – £1.678 billion) and total net assets of £6.388 billion (2023 – £5.385 billion). The colleges had further endowments of £6.796 billion (2023 – £6.388 billion) and total net assets of £8.738 billion (2023 – £8.176 billion). The combined endowment figure of £8.708 billion makes Oxford hold the largest-endowment of any university in the UK. The college figure does not reflect all the assets held by the colleges as their accounts do not include the cost or value of many of their main sites or heritage assets such as works of art or libraries.{{cite news|title=Oxford and Cambridge university colleges hold £21bn in riches|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/28/oxford-and-cambridge-university-colleges-hold-21bn-in-riches|work=The Guardian|access-date=7 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603202132/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/28/oxford-and-cambridge-university-colleges-hold-21bn-in-riches|archive-date=3 June 2019|url-status=live}}

The central University's endowment, along with some of the colleges', is managed by the university's wholly-owned endowment management office, Oxford University Endowment Management, formed in 2007.{{cite web|title=New investment committee at Oxford University |work=University of Oxford |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2007/070213.html |date=13 February 2007 |access-date=9 October 2007 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202183035/https://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2007/070213.html |archive-date=2 December 2012 }} The university used to maintain substantial investments in fossil fuel companies.{{Citation | title = Oxford University urged to purge its £3.3bn fund of fossil fuel investments | url = https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/02/oxford-university-fund-fossil-fuel-climate-crisis | work = The Guardian | date = 2 June 2014 | access-date = 13 December 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170327172615/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/02/oxford-university-fund-fossil-fuel-climate-crisis | archive-date = 27 March 2017 | url-status = live }} However, in April 2020, the university committed to divest from direct investments in fossil fuel companies and to require indirect investments in fossil fuel companies be subjected to the Oxford Martin Principles.{{Cite web|title=Oxford University and fossil fuel divestment {{!}} University of Oxford|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-events/fossil-fuel-divestment|access-date=2 November 2021|website=www.ox.ac.uk|archive-date=2 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102221741/https://www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-events/fossil-fuel-divestment|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=22 April 2020|title=Oxford University bans investment in fossil fuels after student campaigns|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/oxford-university-fossil-fuels-net-zero-student-campaigns-investment-a9478431.html|access-date=2 November 2021|website=The Independent|language=en|archive-date=2 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102221731/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/oxford-university-fossil-fuels-net-zero-student-campaigns-investment-a9478431.html|url-status=live}}

The university was one of the first in the UK to raise money through a major public fundraising campaign, the Campaign for Oxford. The current campaign, its second, was launched in May 2008 and is entitled "Oxford Thinking – The Campaign for the University of Oxford".{{cite web |url=http://www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/ |title=Oxford Thinking |publisher=Campaign.ox.ac.uk |access-date=28 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127192443/http://www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/ |archive-date=27 January 2013 |url-status=live }} This is looking to support three areas: academic posts and programmes, student support, and buildings and infrastructure;{{cite web|url=http://www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/campaign/the_campaign/index.html|title=The Campaign – University of Oxford|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=13 July 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724043847/http://www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/campaign/the_campaign/index.html|archive-date=24 July 2010}} having passed its original target of £1.25 billion in March 2012, the target was raised to £3 billion.{{Citation | year = 2015 | title = 2014/15 Financial Statements | publisher = University of Oxford | location = Oxford | url = http://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/field/field_document/Financial_Statements2014_15.pdf | access-date = 22 December 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151222221204/http://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/field/field_document/Financial_Statements2014_15.pdf | archive-date = 22 December 2015 | url-status = live }}

The university has faced criticism for some of its sources of donations and funding. In 2017, attention was drawn to historical donations including All Souls College receiving £10,000 from slave trader Christopher Codrington in 1710,{{Cite web|date=10 November 2017|title=Oxford college to launch scholarship in attempt to address slavery legacy|url=http://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/10/oxford-all-souls-college-scholarship-slavery-legacy-caribbean-christopher-codrington|access-date=8 November 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=9 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109043043/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/10/oxford-all-souls-college-scholarship-slavery-legacy-caribbean-christopher-codrington|url-status=live}} and Oriel College having receiving taken £100,000 from the will of the imperialist Cecil Rhodes in 1902.{{Cite web |date=20 September 2017 |title=Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902) |url=https://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/cecil-john-rhodes-1853-1902 |access-date=2 November 2021 |website=Oriel College |language=en |archive-date=1 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101225215/https://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/cecil-john-rhodes-1853-1902 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Peltier |first=Elian |date=10 June 2021 |title=Scholars at Oxford University Refuse to Teach Under Statue of Colonialist |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/world/europe/cecil-rhodes-statue-oxford.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/world/europe/cecil-rhodes-statue-oxford.html |archive-date=28 December 2021 |url-access=limited|access-date=2 November 2021|issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}} In 1996 a donation of £20 million was received from Wafic Saïd who was involved in the Al-Yammah arms deal,{{Cite web |title=Demonstration mars opening of Said school |url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/6606632.demonstration-mars-opening-said-school/ |access-date=8 November 2021 |website=Oxford Mail |date=5 November 2001 |language=en |archive-date=8 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108234021/https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/6606632.demonstration-mars-opening-said-school/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=10 December 2001 |title=When worlds collide |first1=Jonathan |last1=Glancey |url=http://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/dec/10/highereducation.mbas |access-date=8 November 2021 |website=The Guardian |language=en |archive-date=9 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109162949/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2001/dec/10/highereducation.mbas |url-status=live }} and taking £150 million from the US billionaire businessman Stephen A. Schwarzman in 2019.{{Cite web|last1=Lee|first1=Alayna|last2=Horowitch|first2=Rose|last3=Tucker|first3=Olivia |title=Schwarzman donation to Oxford draws criticism|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/10/01/schwarzman-donation-to-oxford-draws-criticism/|access-date=26 January 2021|website=Yale Daily News |date=1 October 2019|language=en|archive-date=21 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121214045/https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/10/01/schwarzman-donation-to-oxford-draws-criticism/|url-status=live}} The university has defended its decisions saying it "takes legal, ethical and reputational issues into consideration".

The university has also faced criticism, as noted above, over its decision to accept donations from fossil fuel companies having received £21.8 million from the fossil fuel industry between 2010 and 2015,{{Cite web|date=22 October 2015|title=Top universities including Oxford and Cambridge take millions from BP and Shell, fossil fuel giants|url=https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2015/10/23/data-top-universities-take-134m-from-fossil-fuel-giants-despite-divestment-drive/ |first1=Maeve |last1=McClenaghan |access-date=2 November 2021|website=Unearthed|language=en-GB|archive-date=2 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102221732/https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2015/10/23/data-top-universities-take-134m-from-fossil-fuel-giants-despite-divestment-drive/|url-status=live}} £18.8 million between 2015 and 2020{{Cite news|last1=Tett|first1=Gillian|last2=Nauman|first2=Billy|last3=Temple-West|first3=Patrick|last4=Talman|first4=Kristen|date=28 July 2021|title=TPG and Brookfield haul in $12bn for climate funds|work=Financial Times|url=https://www.ft.com/content/904d4f91-172d-428c-94ee-bcc6f36c83c0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/904d4f91-172d-428c-94ee-bcc6f36c83c0 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2 November 2021}}{{Cite web|title='Shocking' findings about Oxford University's ties with 'big oil'|url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19475235.shocking-findings-oxford-universitys-ties-big-oil/|access-date=2 November 2021|website=Oxford Mail|date=29 July 2021 |language=en|archive-date=2 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102221733/https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19475235.shocking-findings-oxford-universitys-ties-big-oil/|url-status=live}} and £1.6 million between 2020 and 2021.{{Cite news |last=Grostern |first=Joey |date=2022-02-21 |title=Oxford University took at least £1.6m last year from fossil fuel firms |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/feb/21/oxford-university-took-at-least-pounds-16m-last-year-from-fossil-fuel-firms |access-date=2024-08-27 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

The university accepted £6 million from The Alexander Mosley Charitable Trust in 2021. Former racing driver Max Mosley said he set up the trust "to house the fortune he inherited" from his father,{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/education-59232955|title=Oxford Mosley donation needs explanation, say Jewish students|date=10 November 2021|access-date=10 November 2021|website=BBC News|last=Shearing|first=Hazel|url-status=live|archive-date=10 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110153956/https://www.bbc.com/news/education-59232955}} Oswald Mosley, who was founder of two far right groups: Union Movement and the British Union of Fascists.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/07/oxford-university-alexander-mosley-charitable-trust|title=Universities have lost moral compass over Mosley donations, says Oxford don|date=10 November 2021|access-date=10 November 2021|website=The Guardian|last=Brown|first=Mark|url-status=live|archive-date=10 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110191840/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/07/oxford-university-alexander-mosley-charitable-trust}}

Oxford is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities and is regarded to be part of the non-formal grouping of universities which make up the "golden triangle" in South East England. Internationally, it is a member of the Europaeum, the League of European Research Universities, and the International Alliance of Research Universities.{{cite journal|url=http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2005/050707/full/nj7047-144a.html|title=Golden opportunities|access-date=19 October 2010|journal=Nature|date=6 July 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117163616/http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/2005/050707/full/nj7047-144a.html|archive-date=17 November 2010|url-status=live}}

=== Admission ===

File:Percentage of state-school students at Oxford and Cambridge.png{{cite web |url=http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00616/SN00616.pdf |title=Oxbridge 'Elitism' |date=9 June 2014 |access-date=29 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307043908/http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00616/SN00616.pdf |archive-date=7 March 2016 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldhansrd/vo030605/text/30605w03.htm#30605w03_sbhd2 |title=Acceptances to Oxford and Cambridge Universities by previous educational establishment |access-date=17 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220081811/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldhansrd/vo030605/text/30605w03.htm#30605w03_sbhd2 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |url-status=live }}]]

In common with most British universities, prospective undergraduate students apply through the UCAS application system, but prospective applicants for the University of Oxford, along with those for medicine, dentistry, and University of Cambridge applicants, must observe an earlier deadline of 15 October.{{cite web|title=UCAS Students: Important dates for your diary |quote=15 October 2009 Last date for receipt of applications to Oxford University, University of Cambridge and courses in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science or veterinary medicine. |url=http://www.ucas.com/students/importantdates |access-date=23 November 2009 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201114118/http://ucas.com/students/importantdates |archive-date=1 February 2009 }} The Sutton Trust maintains that Oxford University and Cambridge University recruit undergraduates disproportionately from 8 schools which accounted for 1,310 Oxbridge places during three years, contrasted with 1,220 from 2,900 other schools.{{Cite news|date=7 December 2018|title=Oxbridge 'over-recruits from eight schools'|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/education-46470838|access-date=22 January 2023|archive-date=22 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122190704/https://www.bbc.com/news/education-46470838|url-status=live}}

To allow a more personalised judgement of students, who might otherwise apply for both, undergraduate applicants are not permitted to apply to both Oxford and Cambridge in the same year. The only exceptions are applicants for organ scholarships{{cite web |url=http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/assets/files/Chor_Org_Downloads/OrgAwards2009.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120822114305/http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/assets/files/Chor_Org_Downloads/OrgAwards2009.pdf | archive-date=22 August 2012 |quote=It is possible for a candidate to enter the comparable competition at Cambridge which is scheduled at the same time of year. |title=Organ Awards Information for Prospective Candidates|publisher=Faculty of Music, University of Oxford |access-date=22 March 2009}} and those applying to read for a second undergraduate degree.{{cite web|title=UCAS Students FAQs: Oxford or Cambridge |quote=Is it possible to apply to both Oxford University and the University of Cambridge? |url=http://www.ucas.com/students/applying/faqs/eligibility/faq1 |access-date=23 November 2009 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001013817/http://www.ucas.com/students/applying/faqs/eligibility/faq1 |archive-date=1 October 2009 }}

Oxford has the lowest offer rate of all Russell Group universities.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/10/19/which-elite-universities-have-the-highest-offer-rates/ |title=Which elite universities have the highest offer rates? |work=The Telegraph |date=19 October 2016 |access-date=20 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021201613/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/10/19/which-elite-universities-have-the-highest-offer-rates/ |archive-date=21 October 2016 |url-status=live |last1=Gurney-Read |first1=Josie }}

Most applicants choose to apply to one of the individual colleges. For undergraduates, these colleges work with each other to ensure that the best students gain a place somewhere at the university regardless of their college preferences. For postgraduates, all applicants who receive an offer from the university are guaranteed a college place, even if they do not receive a place at their chosen college.{{cite web |title=How do I choose a college? – Will I be interviewed only at my chosen college? |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/colleges/how_do_i_choose_a_college/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100110064825/http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/colleges/how_do_i_choose_a_college/index.html |archive-date=10 January 2010 |access-date=23 November 2009 |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=Oxford}}

Undergraduate shortlisting is based on achieved and predicted exam results, school references, and, in some subjects, written admission tests or candidate-submitted written work. Approximately 60% of applicants are shortlisted, although this varies by subject. If a large number of shortlisted applicants for a subject choose one college, then students who named that college may be reallocated randomly to under-subscribed colleges for the subject. The colleges then invite shortlisted candidates for interview, where they are provided with food and accommodation for around three days in December. Most undergraduate applicants will be individually interviewed by academics at more than one college. In 2020 interviews were moved online,{{cite news |title=Oxford University will interview prospective candidates online |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-53242810 |access-date=11 December 2023 |work=BBC News |date=30 June 2020 |archive-date=14 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214152040/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-53242810 |url-status=live }} and they will remain online until at least 2027.{{cite news |last1=Hedström-Blake |first1=Alexandra |title=Oxford admissions interviews to stay online |url=https://cherwell.org/2023/05/20/oxford-interviews-stay-online/ |access-date=11 December 2023 |work=Cherwell |date=20 May 2023 |archive-date=11 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240211215451/https://cherwell.org/2023/05/20/oxford-interviews-stay-online/ |url-status=live }}

Undergraduate offers are sent out in early January, with each offer usually being from a specific college. One in four successful candidates receives an offer from a college that they did not apply to. Some courses may make "open offers" to some candidates, who are not assigned to a particular college until A Level results day in August.{{cite web |title=Open Offer Scheme |url=http://www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/aspsite/index.asp?pageid=462 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606054422/http://www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/aspsite/index.asp?pageid=462 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |access-date=23 November 2009 |publisher=Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=Oxford}}{{cite web |title=Open Offer Scheme |url=http://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduates/faqs/faq-admissions |publisher=Department of Physics, University of Oxford |access-date=27 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130707214158/http://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduates/faqs/faq-admissions |archive-date=7 July 2013 |url-status=live }}

The university has come under criticism for the number of students it accepts from private schools;{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/dec/12/oxford-cambridge-state-school-admissions-failure |title=Oxford and Cambridge condemned over failure to improve state school access |website=TheGuardian.com |date=12 December 2015 |access-date=2 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302164546/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/dec/12/oxford-cambridge-state-school-admissions-failure |archive-date=2 March 2018 |url-status=live }} for instance, Laura Spence's rejection from the university in 2000 led to widespread debate.{{cite news |title=Is Oxbridge elitist? |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/764767.stm |date=31 May 2000 |access-date=9 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531132009/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/764767.stm |archive-date=31 May 2009 |url-status=live }} In 2016, the University of Oxford gave 59% of offers to UK students to students from state schools, while about 93% of all UK pupils and 86% of post-16 UK pupils are educated in state schools.{{cite web |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate-students/current/school-type?wssl=1 |title=School type |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=17 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916090455/https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate-students/current/school-type?wssl=1 |archive-date=16 September 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Garner |first=Richard |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/number-of-pupils-attending-independent-schools-in-britain-on-the-rise-figures-show-10215959.html |title=Number of pupils attending independent schools in Britain on the rise, figures show |work=The Independent |date=1 May 2015 |access-date=18 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918160530/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/number-of-pupils-attending-independent-schools-in-britain-on-the-rise-figures-show-10215959.html |archive-date=18 September 2018 |url-status=live }} However, 64% of UK applicants were from state schools and the university notes that state school students apply disproportionately to oversubscribed subjects.{{cite web|url=https://public.tableau.com/views/UoO_UG_Admissions/SchoolType?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no|title=University of Oxford UG Application Statistics 2016 entry Applications by School Type|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=3 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303225409/https://public.tableau.com/views/UoO_UG_Admissions/SchoolType?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no|archive-date=3 March 2018|url-status=dead}} The proportion of students coming from state schools has been increasing. From 2015 to 2019, the state proportion of total UK students admitted each year was: 55.6%, 58.0%, 58.2%, 60.5% and 62.3%.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Annual Admissions Statistical Report: May 2020 |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/Annual%20Admissions%20Statistical%20Report%202020.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210312145003/https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/Annual%20Admissions%20Statistical%20Report%202020.pdf |archive-date=12 March 2021 |access-date=3 February 2021 |website=University of Oxford (ox.ac.uk) }} Oxford University spends over £6 million per year on outreach programs to encourage applicants from underrepresented demographics.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37250916|title=Oxford University to have 'most state school students for decades'|work=BBC|last=Coughlon|first=Sean|date=2 September 2016|access-date=3 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315114119/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37250916|archive-date=15 March 2018|url-status=live}}

In 2018 the university's annual admissions report revealed that eight of Oxford's colleges had accepted fewer than three black applicants in the past three years.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44221469|title=Oxford failing on diversity says Lammy|date=23 May 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=23 May 2018|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523093208/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44221469|archive-date=23 May 2018|url-status=live}} Labour MP David Lammy said, "This is social apartheid and it is utterly unrepresentative of life in modern Britain."{{Cite web|date=19 October 2017|first1=Richard |last1=Adams |first2=Helena |last2=Bengtsson |title=Oxford accused of 'social apartheid' as colleges admit no black students|url=http://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/oct/19/oxford-accused-of-social-apartheid-as-colleges-admit-no-black-students|access-date=22 January 2023|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115013546/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/oct/19/oxford-accused-of-social-apartheid-as-colleges-admit-no-black-students|url-status=live}} In 2020, Oxford had increased its proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students to record levels.{{Cite news|last=Yeomans|first=Emma|date=5 February 2021 |title=Oxford University accepts over 100 black students|language=en|work=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/oxford-university-accepts-over-100-black-students-cngl73kpw |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=5 February 2021|issn=0140-0460|archive-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205024035/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/oxford-university-accepts-over-100-black-students-cngl73kpw}}{{Cite web|date=4 February 2021|title=Oxford University: Proportion of black and minority ethnic students rises to record high |first1=Will |last1=Hazell |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/education/oxford-university-black-minority-ethnic-students-record-high-858051|access-date=5 February 2021|website=inews.co.uk|language=en|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204140054/https://inews.co.uk/news/education/oxford-university-black-minority-ethnic-students-record-high-858051|url-status=live}} The number of BAME undergraduates accepted to the university in 2020 rose to 684 students, or 23.6% of the UK intake, up from 558 or 22% in 2019; the number of Black students was 106 (3.7% of the intake), up from 80 students (3.2%).{{Cite web|last=Dunne|first=John|date=4 February 2021|title=Oxford University accepts record number of ethnic minority students|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/oxford-university-ethnic-minority-students-b918678.html|access-date=5 February 2021|website=Evening Standard |language=en|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204185038/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/oxford-university-ethnic-minority-students-b918678.html|url-status=live}} UCAS data also showed that Oxford is more likely than comparable institutions to make offers to ethnic minority and socially disadvantaged pupils.

===Teaching and degrees===

{{Main|Degrees of the University of Oxford|List of professorships at the University of Oxford|Undergraduate education at University of Oxford}}

Undergraduate teaching is centred on the tutorial, where 1–4 students spend an hour with an academic discussing their week's work, usually an essay (humanities, most social sciences, some mathematical, physical, and life sciences) or problem sheet (most mathematical, physical, and life sciences, and some social sciences). The university itself is responsible for conducting examinations and conferring degrees. Undergraduate teaching takes place during three eight-week academic terms: Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity.{{cite web|title=Regulations on the number and length of terms |work=University of Oxford Examination Regulations |date= 29 September 2006 |url=http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/examregs/03-00_REGULATIONS_ON_THE_NUMBER_AND_LENGTH_OF_TERMS.shtml |access-date=9 October 2007 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527150600/http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/examregs/03-00_REGULATIONS_ON_THE_NUMBER_AND_LENGTH_OF_TERMS.shtml |archive-date=27 May 2008 }} (These are officially known as 'Full Term': 'Term' is a lengthier period with little practical significance.) Internally, the weeks in a term begin on Sundays, and are referred to numerically, with the initial week known as "first week", the last as "eighth week" and with the numbering extended to refer to weeks before and after term (for example "noughth week" precedes term).{{cite web |url=https://staff.admin.ox.ac.uk/working-at-oxford/new-to-the-university/university-year-and-events |title=University Year and Events |author= |date= |website=Staff Gateway |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=22 April 2021 |quote= |archive-date=22 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422071736/https://staff.admin.ox.ac.uk/working-at-oxford/new-to-the-university/university-year-and-events |url-status=live }} Undergraduates must be in residence from Thursday of 0th week. These teaching terms are shorter than those of most other British universities,{{cite web|url=http://www.hepi.ac.uk/files/33TheacademicexperienceofstudentsinEnglishuniversities2007.pdf |title=The Academic Experience of Students in English Universities (2007 report) |publisher=Higher Education Policy Institute |last1=Sastry |first1=Tom |last2=Bekhradnia |first2=Bahram |date=25 September 2007 |pages=footnote 14 |access-date=4 November 2007 |quote=Even within Russell Group institutions, it is remarkable how consistently Oxford and Cambridge appear to require more effort of their students than other universities. On the other hand, they have fewer weeks in the academic year than other universities, so the extent to which this is so may be exaggerated by these results. |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709220145/http://www.hepi.ac.uk/files/33TheacademicexperienceofstudentsinEnglishuniversities2007.pdf |archive-date=9 July 2013 }} and their total duration amounts to less than half the year. However, undergraduates are also expected to do some academic work during the three holidays (known as the Christmas, Easter, and Long Vacations).

File:Rhodes House Oxford 20040909.jpg is home to the awarding body for Rhodes Scholarships, often considered the world's most prestigious scholarship.]]

There are many opportunities for students at Oxford to receive financial help during their studies. The Oxford Opportunity Bursaries, introduced in 2006, are university-wide means-based bursaries available to any British undergraduate, with a total possible grant of £10,235 over a 3-year degree. In addition, individual colleges also offer bursaries and funds to help their students. For graduate study, there are many scholarships attached to the university, available to students from all sorts of backgrounds, from Rhodes Scholarships to the relatively new Weidenfeld Scholarships.{{Cite news |title=Oxford targets bright young things of eastern Europe |work=The Guardian |location=UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/mar/22/highereducation.internationaleducationnews |date=22 March 2007 |access-date=9 October 2007 |first=Jessica |last=Shepherd |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414051743/http://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/mar/22/highereducation.internationaleducationnews |archive-date=14 April 2014 |url-status=live }} Oxford also offers the Clarendon Scholarship which is open to graduate applicants of all nationalities.{{cite web |url=http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/informationforapplicants/eligibility/ |title=Eligibility criteria, Clarendon Fund Scholarships |publisher=Clarendon.ox.ac.uk |access-date=11 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150702/http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/informationforapplicants/eligibility/ |archive-date=13 April 2014 |url-status=dead }} The Clarendon Scholarship is principally funded by Oxford University Press in association with colleges and other partnership awards.{{cite web |date=1 September 2011 |title=History of the Clarendon Fund |url=http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/about/history/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150925/http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/about/history/ |archive-date=13 April 2014 |access-date=11 April 2014 |website=Clarendon Fund Scholarships |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-AU |publication-place=Oxford}}{{cite web |title=Partnership awards |url=http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/about/partnership/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150734/http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/about/partnership/ |archive-date=13 April 2014 |access-date=11 April 2014 |website=Clarendon Fund Scholarships |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=Oxford}} In 2016, Oxford University announced that it is to run its first free online economics course as part of a "massive open online course" (MOOC) scheme, in partnership with a US online university network.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37975359 |title=Oxford University to launch first online 'Mooc' course |work=BBC News |date=15 November 2016 |access-date=21 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121081125/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37975359 |archive-date=21 November 2016 |url-status=live }} The course available is called 'From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development'.

Students successful in early examinations are rewarded by their colleges with scholarships and exhibitions, normally the result of a long-standing endowment, although since the introduction of tuition fees the amounts of money available are purely nominal. Scholars, and exhibitioners in some colleges, are entitled to wear a more voluminous undergraduate gown; "commoners" (originally those who had to pay for their "commons", or food and lodging) are restricted to a short, sleeveless garment. The term "scholar" in relation to Oxford therefore has a specific meaning as well as the more general meaning of someone of outstanding academic ability. In previous times, there were "noblemen commoners" and "gentlemen commoners", but these ranks were abolished in the 19th century. "Closed" scholarships, available only to candidates who fitted specific conditions such as coming from specific schools, were abolished in the 1970s and 1980s.{{cite book |last=Crook |first=J Mordaunt |author-link=J. Mordaunt Crook |year=2008 |title=Brasenose: The Biography of an Oxford College |page=413 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-954486-8}}

{{See also|Category:Libraries of the University of Oxford}}

File:Clarendon Building, Oxford, England - May 2010.jpg, home to many senior Bodleian Library staff, previously housed the university's own central administration.]]

The university maintains the largest university library system in the UK,{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/research/libraries/index.html |title=Libraries |publisher=University of Oxford |archive-date=25 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125090133/http://www.ox.ac.uk/research/libraries/index.html |url-status=dead|df=dmy-all }} and, with over 11 million volumes housed on {{convert|120|mi|km}} of shelving, the Bodleian group is the second-largest library in the UK, after the British Library. The Bodleian is a legal deposit library, which means that it is entitled to request a free copy of every book published in the UK. As such, its collection is growing at a rate of over three miles (five kilometres) of shelving every year.{{cite web |date=22 September 2005 |title=A University Library for the Twenty-first Century |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2005-6/supps/1_4743.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902222824/http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2005-6/supps/1_4743.htm |archive-date=2 September 2007 |access-date=9 October 2007 |work=University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=Oxford}}

The buildings referred to as the university's main research library, The Bodleian, consist of the original Bodleian Library in the Old Schools Quadrangle, founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1598 and opened in 1602,{{cite web|title=Sir Thomas Bodley and his Library |work=Oxford Today |url=http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/2001-02/v14n2/03.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009055336/http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/2001-02/v14n2/03.shtml |archive-date=9 October 2006 |year=2002 |access-date=23 October 2007 |url-status=dead}} the Radcliffe Camera, the Clarendon Building, and the Weston Library. A tunnel underneath Broad Street connects these buildings, with the Gladstone Link, which opened to readers in 2011, connecting the Old Bodleian and Radcliffe Camera.

The Bodleian Libraries group was formed in 2000, bringing the Bodleian Library and some of the subject libraries together.{{cite web|url=http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/113853/BodLibs-TIMELINE-2000-2012.pdf|title=Timeline of Bodleian Libraries Events from 2000|access-date=16 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123105538/http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/113853/BodLibs-TIMELINE-2000-2012.pdf|archive-date=23 November 2012|url-status=live}} It now comprises 28{{cite web|url=http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/libraries/bodleian |title=Bodleian Libraries |publisher=Bodleian Library |archive-date=23 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123095722/http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/libraries/bodleian |url-status=dead}} libraries, a number of which have been created by bringing previously separate collections together, including the Sackler Library, Law Library, Social Science Library and Radcliffe Science Library. Another major product of this collaboration has been a joint integrated library system, OLIS (Oxford Libraries Information System),{{cite web |url=http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bdlss/olis-ils |title= OLIS (Integrated Library System) |publisher=Bodleian Digital Library Systems and Services |access-date=13 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827200924/http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bdlss/olis-ils |archive-date=27 August 2013 |url-status=live }} and its public interface, SOLO (Search Oxford Libraries Online), which provides an electronic catalogue covering all member libraries, as well as the libraries of individual colleges and other faculty libraries, which are not members of the group but do share cataloguing information.{{cite web|url=http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/solo |website=Oxford LibGuides |title=Contents – SOLO – Search Oxford Libraries Online|publisher=Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford|access-date=5 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618121121/http://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/solo|archive-date=18 June 2013|url-status=live}}

File:Duke Humfrey's Library Interior 5, Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK - Diliff.jpg in the Bodleian Library]]

A new book depository opened in South Marston, Swindon, in October 2010,{{Cite news |title = In Pictures: Swindon's £26m Bodleian book store opens |work = BBC News |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/wiltshire/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9062000/9062875.stm |date = 6 October 2010 |access-date = 10 September 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120520041325/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/wiltshire/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9062000/9062875.stm |archive-date = 20 May 2012 |url-status = dead }} and recent building projects include the remodelling of the New Bodleian building, which was renamed the Weston Library when it reopened in 2015.{{cite web | title = New Bodleian building to be renamed Weston Library | work = Bodleian Libraries |publisher=University of Oxford | url = http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2009_mar_13 | date = 13 March 2009 | access-date = 27 March 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130323144008/http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2009_mar_13 | archive-date = 23 March 2013 | url-status = dead }}{{cite web |url=https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/news/2016/may-11 |website=Weston Library |title=HRH The Duke of Cambridge formally opens the Bodleian's Weston Library |publisher=University of Oxford |date=11 May 2016 |access-date=17 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917183144/https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/news/2016/may-11 |archive-date=17 September 2018 |url-status=dead }} The renovation is designed to better showcase the library's various treasures (which include a Shakespeare First Folio and a Gutenberg Bible) as well as temporary exhibitions.

The Bodleian engaged in a mass-digitisation project with Google in 2004.{{cite web | title = Oxford-Google Digitization Programme | work = Bodleian Library | url = http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks | access-date = 9 October 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111129044607/http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks/ | archive-date = 29 November 2011 | url-status = live }}{{cite web |title=Library Partners |url=https://www.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/library/partners.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130305125240/http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlebooks/library/partners.html |archive-date=5 March 2013 |access-date=9 October 2007 |website=Google |language=en-US }} Notable electronic resources hosted by the Bodleian Group include the Electronic Enlightenment Project, which was awarded the 2010 Digital Prize by the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2010/2010_jan_20|title=Bodleian Libraries {{!}} Electronic Enlightenment awarded digital prize|website=bodleian.ox.ac.uk|access-date=26 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027063121/https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2010/2010_jan_20|archive-date=27 October 2018|url-status=live}}

{{See also|Category:Museums of the University of Oxford}}

File:Interior of Pitt Rivers Museum 2015.JPG]]

Oxford maintains a number of museums and galleries, open for free to the public. The Ashmolean Museum, founded in 1683, is the oldest museum in the UK, and the oldest university museum in the world.{{cite web |title=Support Us |work=The Ashmolean |url=http://www.ashmolean.org/support/corporatesupport/about/ |access-date=10 October 2007 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503032502/http://www.ashmolean.org/support/corporatesupport/about/ |archive-date=3 May 2007 |df=dmy-all }} It holds significant collections of art and archaeology, including works by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Turner, and Picasso, as well as treasures such as the Scorpion Macehead, the Parian Marble and the Alfred Jewel. It also contains "The Messiah", a pristine Stradivarius violin, regarded by some as one of the finest examples in existence.{{cite news |title=Oxford hosts UK's biggest Stradivarius exhibition |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22526768 |access-date=7 March 2023 |work=BBC News |date=14 May 2013 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307095917/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-22526768 |url-status=live }}

The University Museum of Natural History holds the university's zoological, entomological and geological specimens. It is housed in a large neo-Gothic building on Parks Road, in the university's Science Area.{{cite web|url=http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/|title=Oxford University Museum of Natural History Homepage|publisher=Oxford University Museum of Natural History|access-date=4 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027090448/http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/|archive-date=27 October 2007|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Map of Museums, Libraries and Places of Interest |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors_friends/maps_and_directions/#qmuseums_libraries_and_places_of_interest |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027080434/http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors_friends/maps_and_directions/#qmuseums_libraries_and_places_of_interest |archive-date=27 October 2007 |access-date=4 November 2007 |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-AU |publication-place=Oxford}} Among its collection are the skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops, and the most complete remains of a dodo found anywhere in the world. It also hosts the Simonyi Professorship of the Public Understanding of Science, currently held by Marcus du Sautoy.{{cite web |title=The Oxford Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science |url=https://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/about-marcus/the-oxford-simonyi-professor-for-the-public-understanding-of-science/ |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=7 March 2023 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307102756/https://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/about-marcus/the-oxford-simonyi-professor-for-the-public-understanding-of-science/ |url-status=live }}

Adjoining the Museum of Natural History is the Pitt Rivers Museum, founded in 1884, which displays the university's archaeological and anthropological collections, currently holding over 500,000 items. It recently built a new research annexe; its staff have been involved with the teaching of anthropology at Oxford since its foundation, when as part of his donation General Augustus Pitt Rivers stipulated that the university establish a lectureship in anthropology.{{cite journal |last1=van Keuren |first1=David K. |title=Museums and Ideology: Augustus Pitt-Rivers, Anthropological Museums, and Social Change in Later Victorian Britain |journal=Victorian Studies |date=1984 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=171–189 |jstor=3826763 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3826763 |access-date=7 March 2023 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307100546/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3826763 |url-status=live }}

The Museum of the History of Science is housed on Broad Street in the world's oldest-surviving purpose-built museum building.{{cite web

|title=About the Museum

|work=Museum of the History of Science

|url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/about/index.htm?text

|access-date=9 October 2007

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911135646/http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/about/index.htm?text

|archive-date=11 September 2007

|url-status=dead

}} It contains 15,000 artefacts, from antiquity to the 20th century, representing almost all aspects of the history of science. In the Faculty of Music on St Aldate's is the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, a collection mostly of instruments from Western classical music, from the medieval period onwards. Christ Church Picture Gallery holds a large collection of old master paintings and drawings.{{cite news |last1=Katz |first1=Brigit |title=Thieves Steal Three Precious Artworks From Oxford Gallery |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-precious-artworks-swiped-oxford-gallery-180974434/ |access-date=7 March 2023 |work=Smithsonian |date=17 March 2020 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307094948/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-precious-artworks-swiped-oxford-gallery-180974434/ |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Oxford University Press}}

The Oxford University Press is the world's second oldest and currently the largest university press by the number of publications.{{cite news |last=Balter |first=Michael |date=16 February 1994 |title=400 Years Later, Oxford Press Thrives |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/16/news/16iht-presseduc.html |url-status=dead |access-date=28 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924191930/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/16/news/16iht-presseduc.html |archive-date=24 September 2011}} More than 6,000 new books are published annually,{{cite web|url=http://global.oup.com/about/way_we_work/|title=The Way We Work|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=27 May 2014|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927195938/https://global.oup.com/about/way_we_work/?cc=us|url-status=live}} including many reference, professional, and academic works (such as the Oxford English Dictionary, the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the Oxford World's Classics, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and the Concise Dictionary of National Biography).

{{Infobox UK university rankings

| ARWU_W = 6

| QS_W = 3

| THE_W = 1

| LINE_1 = 0

| Complete = 2

| The_Guardian = 1

| Times/Sunday_Times = 3

| LINE_2 = 0}}

File:Oxford 10 Years.png performance over the past ten years]]

Due to its age{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oWGmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT12|page=12|title=Elite Universities and the Making of Privilege: Exploring Race and Class in Global Educational Economies|publisher=Taylor & Francis|author1=Kalwant Bhopal|author2=Martin Myers|date=31 January 2023|isbn=9781000829105|access-date=21 February 2024|archive-date=23 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023225103/https://books.google.com/books?id=oWGmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT12|url-status=live}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-SJIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|title=You2Uni: Decide. Prepare. Apply|page=108|author=Stella Cottrell|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|date=16 September 2017|isbn=9781137022431|access-date=21 February 2024|archive-date=23 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023225108/https://books.google.com/books?id=-SJIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|url-status=live}} and its social and academic status,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dx-0BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA40|title=Student Life in a Class Society|author=Joan Abbott|publisher=Elsevier|page=40|date=17 May 2014|isbn=9781483186580|orig-date=1971|access-date=21 February 2024|archive-date=23 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023225107/https://books.google.com/books?id=Dx-0BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA40|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|jstor=40220510|title=Old and New Universities|author=H. C. Dent|journal= Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors|publisher=American Association of University Professors|pages=88–91|issue=1|date=February 1944|volume=30 |doi=10.2307/40220510}} the University of Oxford is considered to be one of Britain's most prestigious or elite universities{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xwm4BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT100|page=92|title=The Gove Legacy: Education in Britain after the Coalition|author=M. Finn|publisher=Springer|date=20 February 2015|isbn=9781137491510|access-date=21 February 2024|archive-date=23 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023230357/https://books.google.com/books?id=xwm4BgAAQBAJ&pg=PT100|url-status=live}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Ol-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|title=Gentrification in a Global Context|author1=Rowland Atkinson|author2=Gary Bridge|publisher=Routledge|date=10 December 2004|page=89|isbn=9781134330652|access-date=21 February 2024|archive-date=23 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023225105/https://books.google.com/books?id=1Ol-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|url-status=live}} and to form, along with the University of Cambridge, a top two that stand above other UK universities in this regard.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KLKoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT42|page=42|title=Meeting Jesus at University: Rites of Passage and Student Evangelicals|author=Edward Dutton|publisher=Routledge|date=5 December 2016|isbn=9781351918374|access-date=22 February 2024|archive-date=23 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023225128/https://books.google.com/books?id=KLKoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT42|url-status=live}}

Oxford is regularly ranked within the top five universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings,{{Cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats|title=World University Rankings|date=26 September 2018|work=Times Higher Education |access-date=28 September 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021113908/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats|archive-date=21 October 2018|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2018/09/26/an-expert-list-of-the-worlds-best-universities/#1a4003fe4f02|title=An Expert List of the World's Best Universities|last=Adams|first=Susan|work=Forbes|access-date=28 September 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928105708/https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2018/09/26/an-expert-list-of-the-worlds-best-universities/#1a4003fe4f02|archive-date=28 September 2018|url-status=live}} as well as the Forbes's World University Rankings.{{Cite news |last=Strauss |first=Karsten |date=23 September 2016 |title=The World's Top Universities 2016 |url=https://www.forbes.com/pictures/feki45ehlig/the-worlds-top-universi/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108155045/https://www.forbes.com/pictures/feki45ehlig/the-worlds-top-universi/ |archive-date=8 November 2020 |access-date=20 October 2016 |work=Forbes |language=en-US |publication-place=New Jersey}} It held the number one position in the Times Good University Guide for eleven consecutive years,{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2012/120614_2.html |title=Oxford tops Times Good University Guide for 11th year |date=14 June 2012 |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=30 December 2012 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425184449/https://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2012/120614_2.html |archive-date=25 April 2013 }} and the medical school has also maintained first place in the "Clinical, Pre-Clinical & Health" table of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings for the past seven consecutive years.{{cite web|title=Times Higher Education Clinical, Pre-Clinical & Health|date=14 September 2017|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2018/subject-ranking/clinical-pre-clinical-health#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats|access-date=25 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110005124/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2018/subject-ranking/clinical-pre-clinical-health#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats|archive-date=10 November 2017|url-status=live}} In 2021, it ranked sixth among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings.{{cite web|url=https://www.scimagoir.com/rankings.php?sector=Higher+educ.&country=all|title=SCImago Institutions Rankings – Higher Education – All Regions and Countries – 2021 – Overall Rank|website=scimagoir.com|access-date=11 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422183813/https://www.scimagoir.com/rankings.php?sector=Higher%20educ.&country=all|archive-date=22 April 2019|url-status=live}} The THE has also recognised Oxford as one of the world's "six super brands" on its World Reputation Rankings, along with Berkeley, Cambridge, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford.{{cite web|last=Morgan|first=John|title=Top Six Universities Dominate THE World Reputation Rankings|date=January 1990 |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011/reputation-ranking/analysis|quote="The rankings suggest that the top six-...Stanford University and the University of Oxford – form a group of globally recognised "super brands".|access-date=7 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404153936/http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011/reputation-ranking/analysis|archive-date=4 April 2014|url-status=live}} The university is fourth worldwide on the US News ranking.{{Cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings?int=a27a09|title=Best Global Universities|website=US News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113052748/http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings?int=a27a09|archive-date=13 January 2016|url-status=dead}} Its Saïd Business School came 13th in the world in Financial Times Global MBA Ranking.{{cite news |url=http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2019 |work=Financial Times |title=Global MBA Ranking 2019 |date=12 September 2019 |access-date=12 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190912040109/http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2019 |archive-date=12 September 2019 |url-status=live }}

Oxford was ranked 13th in the world in 2022 by the Nature Index, which measures the largest contributors to papers published in 82 leading journals.{{cite web |title=Ten institutions that dominated science in 2022 |url=https://www.natureindex.com/institution-outputs/generate/all/global/all |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214155457/https://www.natureindex.com/institution-outputs/generate/all/global/all |archive-date=14 December 2021 |access-date=28 May 2019 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.natureindex.com/faq#introduction1|title=Introduction to the Nature Index|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401154037/https://www.natureindex.com/faq#introduction1|archive-date=1 April 2019|url-status=live}} It is ranked fifth best university worldwide and first in Britain for forming CEOs according to the Professional Ranking World Universities,{{cite web|url=http://www.boivigny.com/Classement-2011-des-universites-par-l-Ecole-des-Mines-le-french-ranking-par-excellence_a781.html |title=Classement 2011 des universités par l Ecole des Mines le french ranking par excellence |last=Mines ParisTech Professional Ranking World Universities |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925221025/http://www.boivigny.com/Classement-2011-des-universites-par-l-Ecole-des-Mines-le-french-ranking-par-excellence_a781.html |archive-date=25 September 2015 }} and first in the UK for the quality of its graduates as chosen by the recruiters of the UK's major companies.{{cite news | url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/news/best-uk-universities-chosen-major-employers | location=London | work=Times Higher Education | title=The best UK universities chosen by major employers | date=12 November 2015 | access-date=16 November 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304044555/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/news/best-uk-universities-chosen-major-employers | archive-date=4 March 2016 | url-status=live }}

In the 2018 Complete University Guide, all 38 subjects offered by Oxford rank within the top 10 nationally meaning Oxford was one of only two multi-faculty universities (along with Cambridge) in the UK to have 100% of their subjects in the top 10.{{cite web |url=https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/who's-who-in-the-subject-league-tables/ |title=Who's Who in the Subject League Tables |publisher=Complete University Guide |access-date=12 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707084348/https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/who%27s-who-in-the-subject-league-tables/ |archive-date=7 July 2017 |url-status=live }} Computer Science, Medicine, Philosophy, Politics and Psychology were ranked first in the UK by the guide.{{cite web |url=https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/oxford/performance |title=University of Oxford |publisher=Complete University Guide |access-date=12 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707134428/https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/oxford/performance |archive-date=7 July 2017 |url-status=live }}

According to the QS World University Rankings by Subject, the University of Oxford also ranks as number one in the world for four Humanities disciplines: English Language and Literature, Modern Languages, Geography, and History. It also ranks second globally for Anthropology, Archaeology, Law, Medicine, Politics & International Studies, and Psychology.{{cite web|title=University of Oxford|url=http://www.topuniversities.com/universities/university-oxford|website=Top Universities|publisher=QS Quacquarelli Symonds|access-date=14 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914081837/http://www.topuniversities.com/universities/university-oxford|archive-date=14 September 2016|url-status=live}}

{{See also|Academic dress of the University of Oxford}}

File:Toby Virno sub fusc.JPG for matriculation]]

Academic dress is required for examinations, matriculation, disciplinary hearings, and when visiting university officers. A referendum held among the Oxford student body in 2015 showed 76% against making it voluntary in examinations – 8,671 students voted, with the 40.2% turnout the highest ever for a UK student union referendum.{{cite web|last1=Doody and Robinson|title=Students vote overwhelmingly to retain subfusc|url=http://www.cherwell.org/news/topstories/2015/05/22/students-vote-overwhelmingly-to-retain-subfusc|website=Cherwell|date=22 May 2015|publisher=OSPL|access-date=22 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150523132145/http://www.cherwell.org/news/topstories/2015/05/22/students-vote-overwhelmingly-to-retain-subfusc|archive-date=23 May 2015|url-status=live}} This was widely interpreted by students as being a vote not so much on making subfusc voluntary, but rather, in effect, on abolishing it by default, in that if a minority of people came to exams without subfusc, the rest would soon follow.See, for instance, {{cite web|url=http://oxfordstudent.com/ht2006wk1/News/end_of_an_era%3A_subfusc_could_be_sent_down |title=End of an era: subfusc could be sent down – oxfordstudent.com |access-date=27 March 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060308222153/http://oxfordstudent.com/ht2006wk1/News/end_of_an_era%3A_subfusc_could_be_sent_down |archive-date=8 March 2006 }} In July 2012 the regulations regarding academic dress were modified to be more inclusive to transgender people.{{cite web|url=http://www.govtoday.co.uk/education/40-higher-education/12099-support-for-transgender-students-taking-oxford-university-exams |title=Support for transgender students taking Oxford University exams |access-date=29 July 2012 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910005933/http://www.govtoday.co.uk/education/40-higher-education/12099-support-for-transgender-students-taking-oxford-university-exams |archive-date=10 September 2012 }}

'Trashing' is a tradition of spraying those who just finished their last examination of the year with alcohol, flour and confetti. The sprayed student stays in the academic dress worn to the exam. The custom began in the 1970s when friends of students taking their finals waited outside Oxford's Examination Schools where exams for most degrees are taken.{{Cite web |last=Clement |first=Mia |date=14 May 2021 |title=Who are we really trashing? |url=https://www.cherwell.org/2021/05/14/who-are-we-really-trashing/ |access-date=18 April 2023 |website=Cherwell |language=en-GB |archive-date=18 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418141730/https://www.cherwell.org/2021/05/14/who-are-we-really-trashing/ |url-status=live }} Other traditions and customs vary by college. For example, some colleges have formal hall six times a week, but in others this only happens occasionally, or even not at all. Balls are major events held by colleges; the largest, held triennially in ninth week of Trinity Term, are called commemoration balls; the dress code is usually white tie. Many other colleges hold smaller events during the year that they call summer balls or parties.

{{See also|Category:Clubs and societies of the University of Oxford}}

File:UnionBuildingsDebateChamber.jpg's debating chamber]]

File:Eights 2005.JPG, an annual intercollegiate bumps race]]

The Oxford Union (not to be confused with the Oxford University Student Union) is an independent debating society which hosts weekly debates and high-profile speakers. Party political groups include Oxford University Conservative Association and Oxford University Labour Club. Most academic areas have student societies of some form, for example the Scientific Society.

There are two weekly student newspapers: the independent Cherwell and OUSU's The Oxford Student. Other publications include the Isis magazine, the satirical Oxymoron, the graduate Oxonian Review, the Oxford Political Review,{{cite web | url=https://www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/article/call-for-submissions | title=Call for submissions | access-date=7 October 2022 | archive-date=7 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007085440/https://www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/article/call-for-submissions | url-status=live }} and the online only newspaper The Oxford Blue. The student radio station is Oxide Radio.

Sport is played between college teams, in tournaments known as cuppers (the term is also used for some non-sporting competitions). In particular, much attention is given to the termly intercollegiate rowing regattas: Christ Church Regatta, Torpids, and Summer Eights. In addition, there are higher standard university wide teams. Significant focus is given to annual varsity matches played against Cambridge, the most famous of which is The Boat Race, watched by a TV audience of between five and ten million viewers. A blue is an award given to those who compete at the university team level in certain sports.

Music, drama, and other arts societies exist both at the collegiate level and as university-wide groups, such as the Oxford University Dramatic Society and the Oxford Revue. Most colleges have chapel choirs. The Oxford Imps, a comedy improvisation troupe, perform weekly at The Jericho Tavern during term time.{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordimps.com/shows |title=Shows and Workshops |publisher=The Oxford Imps |access-date=9 October 2023 |archive-date=15 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015104737/https://www.oxfordimps.com/shows |url-status=live }}

Private members' clubs for students include Vincent's Club (primarily for sportspeople){{Cite web |date=11 December 2009 |title='Once a member, always a member' |url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4789606.once-member-always-member/ |access-date=27 October 2023 |website=Oxford Mail |language=en |archive-date=14 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614141839/https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4789606.once-member-always-member/ |url-status=live }} and The Gridiron Club.{{Cite web |date=27 August 2017 |title=A GQ student guide to Oxford University |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/insiders-guide-to-oxford-university |access-date=27 October 2023 |website=British GQ |language=en-GB |archive-date=6 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231006171353/https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/insiders-guide-to-oxford-university |url-status=live }} A number of invitation-only student dining clubs also exist, including the Bullingdon Club.

The Oxford University Student Union, formerly better known by its acronym OUSU and now rebranded as Oxford SU,{{cite news |url=http://cherwell.org/2017/08/17/dnp-ousu-is-dead-long-live-the-oxford-su/ |title="Oxford SU" to replace OUSU brand |work=Cherwell |date=17 August 2017 |access-date=26 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026222839/http://cherwell.org/2017/08/17/dnp-ousu-is-dead-long-live-the-oxford-su/ |archive-date=26 October 2018 |url-status=live }} exists to represent students in the university's decision-making, to act as the voice for students in the national higher education policy debate, and to provide direct services to the student body. Reflecting the collegiate nature of the University of Oxford itself, OUSU is both an association of Oxford's more than 21,000 individual students and a federation of the affiliated college common rooms, and other affiliated organisations that represent subsets of the undergraduate and graduate students.

The importance of collegiate life is such that for many students their college JCR (Junior Common Room, for undergraduates) or MCR (Middle Common Room, for graduates) is seen as more important than OUSU. JCRs and MCRs each have a committee, with a president and other elected students representing their peers to college authorities. Additionally, they organise events and often have significant budgets to spend as they wish (money coming from their colleges and sometimes other sources such as student-run bars).

{{Main|List of University of Oxford people|List of Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Oxford}}

Throughout its history, a sizeable number of Oxford alumni, known as Oxonians, have become notable in many varied fields, both academic and otherwise. A total of 70 Nobel prize-winners have studied or taught at Oxford, with prizes won in all six categories.{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/famous-oxonians|title=Famous Oxonians|publisher=University of Oxford|date=30 October 2007|access-date=13 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607051053/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/famous-oxonians|archive-date=7 June 2014|url-status=live}}

More information on notable members of the university can be found in the individual college articles. An individual may be associated with two or more colleges, as an undergraduate, postgraduate and/or member of staff.

{{multiple image

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| header = Notable alumni

| image1 = Oscar Wilde portrait (cropped).jpg

| caption1 = Oscar Wilde, Magdalen College

| image2 = Tim Berners-Lee CP 2 head crop.jpg

| caption2 = Tim Berners-Lee, The Queen's College

| image3 = Bill Clinton.jpg

| caption3 = Bill Clinton, University College

}}

Notable alumni include three Fields Medallists, two British kings and at least fifteen monarchs of eleven other sovereign states (including five reigning monarchs), twenty-eight British prime ministers, and thirty-five presidents and prime ministers of nineteen other countries. As of July 2019 there are seven Oxonians in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and two in the Shadow Cabinet.

The university has produced 291 Members of Parliament (excluding MPs who were subsequently peers), eleven Members of the European Parliament (excluding MEPs also serving at Westminster), twelve Lord Chancellors, nine Lord Chief Justices and twenty-two law lords; ten US Senators, ten US Representatives (including a Speaker of the House), three state governors, and four associate justices of the US Supreme Court; as well as six puisne justices of the Supreme Court of Canada and a chief justice of the now defunct Federal Court of Canada.

==Oxford in literature and popular media==

The University of Oxford is the setting for numerous works of fiction. Oxford was mentioned in fiction as early as 1400 when Chaucer, in Canterbury Tales, referred to a "Clerk [student] of Oxenford".Bert Dillon, "A Clerk Ther Was of Oxenford Also." in Chaucer's Pilgrims: An Historical Guide to the Pilgrims in (1996): 108–115. Mortimer Proctor argues the first campus novel was The Adventures of Oxymel Classic, Esq; Once an Oxford Scholar (1768).see [https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-adventures-of-oxymel_1768_2 online copy] It is filled with violence and debauchery, with obnoxious, foolish dons becoming easy prey for cunning students.Mortimer Proctor, The English University Novel (U of California Press 1957) pp. 46–49. [https://archive.org/details/englishuniversit0000proc online] Proctor argues that by 1900, "novels about Oxford and Cambridge were so numerous that they clearly represent a striking literary phenomenon."Proctor, The English University Novel p. vii. By 1989, 533 novels based in Oxford had been identified and the number continues to rise.{{cite book|title=Oxford in Fiction: an annotated bibliography|first=Judy G.|last=Batson}}

Famous literary works range from Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, which in 1981 was adapted as a television serial, to the trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, which features an alternate-reality version of the university and was adapted for film in 2007 and as a BBC television series in 2019.

Other notable examples include:

• Zuleika Dobson (1911) by Max Beerbohm, a satire about undergraduate life.
• Gaudy Night (1935) by Dorothy L. Sayers, herself a graduate of Somerville College, a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel.
• The Inspector Morse detective novels (1975–1999) by Colin Dexter, adapted for television as Inspector Morse (1987–2000), the spin-off Lewis (2006–2015), and the prequel Endeavour (2012–2023).
• True Blue (1996), a film about the mutiny at the time of the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race of 1987.
• The History Boys (2004) by Alan Bennett, alumnus of Exeter College, a play about a group of grammar school boys in Sheffield in 1983 applying to read history at Oxford and Cambridge. It premiered at the National Theatre and was adapted for film in 2006.
• Posh (2010), a play by Laura Wade, and its film adaptation The Riot Club (2014), about a fictionalised equivalent of the Bullingdon Club.
• Testament of Youth (2014), a drama film based on the memoir of the same name written by Somerville alumna Vera Brittain.
• Middle England (2019), the prize-winning novel by Jonathan Coe, portrays a deeply divided Britain in the 2010s that is so frustrating that dissatisfied Oxford dons reject elite academia and take their talents elsewhere.Igor Maver, "CK Stead's 'Campus' Novel Talking about O'Dwyer: Oxford, New Zealand, Croatia, Greece." in The Campus Novel (Brill, 2019) pp.154–165.
• Saltburn (2023), a film about an Oxford student, by Emerald Fennell, alumna of Greyfriars, Oxford.

Notable non-fiction works on Oxford include Oxford by Jan Morris.{{cite news |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/jan-morris-the-greatest-descriptive-writer-of-her-time/# |title=Jan Morris – 'the greatest descriptive writer of her time' |first=Maggie |last=Fergusson |work=The Spectator |date=29 October 2016 |access-date=16 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118204511/http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/jan-morris-the-greatest-descriptive-writer-of-her-time/ |archive-date=18 November 2016 |url-status=live }}

{{Portal bar|University of Oxford|Oxfordshire|Education}}

{{div col}}

• Academic scarves of the University of Oxford
• Gaudy celebrations
• List of medieval universities
• List of University of Oxford people
• May Morning celebration
• Oxford "-er"
• Oxford bags
• Oxford University (UK Parliament constituency)
• Oxford University Police
• Town and gown
• University of Oxford tortoises

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|30em|group="note"}}

{{notelist|30em}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|35em}}

• Brock, Michael G., and Mark C. Curthoys, eds. The History of the University of Oxford Volumes 6 and 7: Nineteenth-Century (Oxford UP, 2000). vol 6 excerpt; [https://www.amazon.com/History-University-Oxford-Nineteenth-Century/dp/0199510172/ vol 7 excerpt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305113540/https://www.amazon.com/History-University-Oxford-Nineteenth-Century/dp/0199510172 |date=5 March 2017 }}
• {{cite book |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243563.001.0001 |title=The University of Oxford |year=2016 |last1=Brockliss |first1=L.W.B. |isbn=978-0-19-924356-3}}
• {{Cite book |author-link=Christopher N. L. Brooke |author-link2=Roger Highfield (historian) |last1=Brooke |first1=Christopher |first2=Roger |last2=Highfield |title=Oxford and Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1988 |ol=2381624M |isbn=0521301394}} heavily illustrated
• Catto, Jeremy (ed.), The History of the University of Oxford, (Oxford UP, 1994).
• Clark, Andrew (ed.), The colleges of Oxford: their history and traditions, Methuen & C. (London, 1891).
• Deslandes, Paul R. Oxbridge Men: British Masculinity & the Undergraduate Experience, 1850–1920 (2005), 344pp
• {{cite journal |jstor=4127167 |title=Oxford and the Idea of a University in Nineteenth Century Britain |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=575–592 |last1=Goldman |first1=Lawrence |year=2004}}
• Harrison, Brian Howard, ed. The History of the University of Oxford: Vol 8 The twentieth century (Oxford UP 1994).
• Hibbert, Christopher, The Encyclopaedia of Oxford, Macmillan (Basingstoke, 1988).
• McConica, James. History of the University of Oxford. Vol. 3: The Collegiate University (1986), 775pp.
• Mallet, Charles Edward. A history of the University of Oxford: The mediæval university and the colleges founded in the Middle Ages (2 vol 1924)
• Midgley, Graham. University Life in Eighteenth-Century Oxford (1996) 192pp
• Simcock, Anthony V. The Ashmolean Museum and Oxford Science, 1683–1983 (Museum of the History of Science, 1984).
• Sutherland, Lucy Stuart, Leslie G. Mitchell, and T. H. Aston, eds. The history of the University of Oxford (Clarendon, 1984).

• Annan, Noel, The Dons: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses HarperCollins (London, 1999)
• Batson, Judy G., Oxford in Fiction, Garland (New York, 1989).
• Betjeman, John, An Oxford University Chest, Miles (London, 1938).
• Casson, Hugh, Hugh Casson's Oxford, Phaidon (London, 1988).
• Dougill, John, Oxford in English Literature, (U of Michigan Press, 1998).
• Feiler, Bruce, Looking for Class: Days and Nights at Oxford and Cambridge, (2004).
• Fraser, Antonia (ed.), Oxford and Oxfordshire in Verse, Penguin (London, 1983).
• R.W. Johnson, Look Back in Laughter: Oxford's Golden Postwar Age, Threshold Press (2015).
• Kenny, Anthony & Kenny, Robert, Can Oxford be Improved?, Imprint Academic (Exeter, 2007)
• Knight, William (ed.), The Glamour of Oxford, (Blackwell, 1911).
• Miles, Jebb, The Colleges of Oxford, Constable (London, 1992).
• Morris, Jan, The Oxford Book of Oxford, (Oxford UP 2002).
• Pursglove, G. and A. Ricketts (eds.), Oxford in Verse, Perpetua (Oxford, 1999).
• Seccombe, Thomas and H. Scott (eds.), In Praise of Oxford (2 vols.), Constable (London, 1912). [https://archive.org/details/inpraiseofoxford00seccuoft v.1]
• Snow, Peter, Oxford Observed, John Murray (London, 1991).

{{Main list|Timeline of Oxford#Further reading

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• Tames, Richard, A Traveller's History of Oxford, Interlink (New York, 2002).
• Tyack, Geoffrey, Oxford: An Architectural Guide, Oxford University Press (Oxford, 1998).

{{refend}}

{{Sister project links|wikt=no|b=no|v=no|commons=Category:University of Oxford}}

• {{official website}}
• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63862#n9 'The University of Oxford', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3: The University of Oxford (1954), pp. 1–38] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116132507/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63862#n9 |date=16 January 2014 }}
• {{Internet Archive author |search=("Oxford University" OR "University of Oxford")}}

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