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The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University", or simply "Oxford"), located in the English city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back as the 11th century. The university grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge, where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two "ancient universities" have many common features and are sometimes collectively and colloquially referred to as "Oxbridge". League tables consistently list Oxford as one of the UK's best universities, and Oxford consistently ranks in the world's top 10. The University is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group, the League of European Research Universities, International Alliance of Research Universities and is also a core member of the Europaeum. For more than a century, it has served as the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, which brings students from a number of countries to study at Oxford as postgraduates. (more about the university...)
The colleges of the university, of which there are 38, are autonomous self-governing institutions. All students and teaching staff belong to one of the colleges, or to one of the six Permanent Private Halls (religious foundations that admit students to study at Oxford). The colleges act as more than halls of residence: they are responsible for much of the student teaching through the provision of tutorials and classes, while the university provides lectures and laboratories, and sets the degree examinations. Most of the colleges accept undergraduate and postgraduates students, although some are for graduate students only; All Souls College does not have students, only Fellows, while Harris Manchester College is for students over the age of 21. All the colleges now admit both men and women: the last single-sex college, St Hilda's College, began to admit men in 2008. Colleges generally have a dining hall, chapel, library, common rooms and bar, and rooms for students and academics. College buildings range from the medieval to the modern, but most are made up of interlinked quadrangles (courtyards). The oldest of the colleges are University, Balliol, and Merton, established between 1249 and 1264, although there is some dispute over the exact order and precisely when each began teaching. The most recent new foundation is Kellogg College, founded in 1990, while the most recent overall is Green Templeton College, formed in 2008 as the result of a merger of two existing colleges. (more about the colleges...)
Selected article
The Boat Race, also known as the "University Boat Race" and "The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race", is a rowing race between Oxford University Boat Club and Cambridge University Boat Club each spring on the River Thames in London. The course (map pictured), which is 4 miles 374 yards long (6,779 metres), runs from Putney to Mortlake, passing Hammersmith and Barnes. The clubs' presidents toss a coin before the race for the right to choose which side of the river (station) they will row on: the north station ("Middlesex") has the advantage of the first and last bends, and the south ("Surrey") station the longer middle bend. Members of both teams are traditionally known as "blues" and each boat as a "Blue Boat", with Cambridge in light blue and Oxford dark blue. The first race was in 1829 and it has been held annually since 1856, with the exception of the two world wars. The 2010 boat race took place on Saturday, 3 April 2010, with Cambridge beating Oxford. The event is a popular one, not only with the alumni of the universities, but also with rowers in general and the public. (more...)
Selected biography
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) often referred to as "Dr Johnson", was a British author who has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is also the subject of "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford for just over a year, before his lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher he moved to London, where he began to write miscellaneous pieces for The Gentleman's Magazine. After nine years of work, Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755; it had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship." In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland. Boswell's Life, along with other biographies, documented Johnson's behaviour and mannerisms in such detail that they have informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome, a condition not defined in the 18th century. (more...)
Selected college
All Souls College was founded by Henry Chichele (the Archbishop of Canterbury) and King Henry VI in 1438. There are no undergraduates at the college, although there have been at some stages of its history, but the Codrington Library is open to some students from the wider university. All of the college's members are Fellows, including many distinguished scholars. Several of the university's professorships are attached to the college, such as the Chichele Professorships and the Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature. Many academics from overseas spend time at the college as Visiting Fellows. All Souls is centrally located on the High Street, near the Bodleian Library and the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. The chapel contains a complete set of misericords from the 15th century. The architect Nicholas Hawksmoor remodelled much of All Souls in the 18th century. The customs of the college include a feast every one hundred years (last held in 2001) at which the Fellows parade around All Souls, carrying flaming torches and singing the Mallard Song, to commemorate an incident when a mallard is said to have flown out of the foundations as it was being built. (more...)
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A statue by Barbara Hepworth at St Catherine's College. Built in the 1960s to the design of the Danish architect Arne Jacobsen, the college's architecture has been highly praised. Did you know...
Articles from Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives about the university and people associated with it:
- ... that Lieutenant General Howard D. Graves (pictured as a cadet) was a Rhodes Scholar, the Superintendent of West Point, and the Chancellor of Texas A&M University?
- ... that Mahesh Rangarajan is a researcher, author and historian who analysed present-day conservation conflicts in India and found their roots in India's colonial past?
- ... that David Lewis and his son Stephen Lewis served simultaneously as the leaders of the Canadian and Ontario New Democratic Party?
- ... that Gail Trimble, captain of the team which won BBC TV's University Challenge before being disqualified, has been called the "human Google" and the "Usain Bolt of general knowledge"?
- ... that the poet William Dickey finished a poem about the death of his mentor, John Berryman, shortly before his own death in 1994?
In the news
Wikinews about the University of Oxford
- October 1: 'Fascinating' and 'provocative' research examines genetic elements of bipolar, schizophrenia
- July 9: Polar bears related to extinct Irish bears, DNA study shows
- September 27: Genetic link to migraines discovered by researchers
- September 24: 'Poetry lost': rude rhyme rediscovered, attributed to John Milton
Selected panorama
The main quadrangle of Worcester College; on the left are the medieval buildings known as "the cottages", the most substantial surviving part of Gloucester College, Worcester's predecessor on the same site. Categories:- Education portals
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