Oxford University

From Wikinfo

Jump to: navigation, search

Oxford University or The University of Oxford, situated in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Contents

History

The date of the university's foundation is unknown, and indeed it may not have been a single event, but there is evidence of teaching there as early as 1096. When Henry II of England forbade English students to study at the University of Paris in 1167, Oxford began to grow very quickly. The foundation of the first halls of residence, which later became colleges, dates from this period and later. Following the murder of two students accused of rape in 1209, the University was disbanded. On June 20, 1214, the University returned to Oxford with a charter negotiated by Nicholas de Romanis, a papal legate.


Oxford's chief domestic rival is Cambridge, founded shortly afterwards. Together Oxford and Cambridge are sometimes referred to as Oxbridge. Cambridge is, not always correctly, considered stronger in scientific subjects whereas Oxford is, not always correctly, considered stronger in arts and humanities.


Organisation

Oxford consists of a central university (including the central and departmental libraries, and science laboratories) and 45 separate colleges (39 full colleges and 6 permanent private halls). All teaching staff and students are enrolled in specific colleges. These colleges are not only houses of residence, but have substantial responsibility for the teaching of undergraduates.

Oxford's collegiate system springs from the fact that the University came into existence through the gradual agglomeration of independent institutions in the city of Oxford.

The first academic houses were monastic halls. Of the dozens that settled in the University during the 12th to 15th centuries, none survived the Reformation. The modern permanent private hall of Blackfriars (1921) is a descendent of the original (1221), and is therefore sometimes described as heir to the oldest tradition of teaching in Oxford.

As the University took shape, friction between the hundreds of students living where and how they pleased led to a decree that all undergraduates would have to reside in approved halls. Of the hundreds of Aularian houses that sprang up across the city, only St Edmund Hall (c 1225) remains. What put an end to the halls was the emergence of colleges. Generously endowed and with permanent teaching staff, the colleges were originally the preserve of graduate students. However, once they began accepting fee-paying undergraduates in the 14th Century, the halls' days were numbered.

The oldest of Oxford's colleges are University College, Balliol, and Merton, established between 1249 and 1264, although there is some dispute over the exact order and precisely when each began teaching.

Women entered the university for the first time in 1878. They became members of the University (eligible to receive degrees) in 1920. Women's colleges before integration included Somerville College, St. Hugh's, and Lady Margaret Hall. Almost all colleges are now co-educational, the only remaining women-only college being St. Hilda's. Some colleges accept only graduate students.

Image:Brasnose.JPG
Brasenose College in the 1670s

As well as the collegiate level of organisation, the university is subdivided into department on a subject basis, much like most other universities. Departments take a major role in graduate education and an increasing role in undergraduate education, providing lectures and classes and organising examinations. Departments are also a centre of research, funded by outside bodies including the major research councils; while colleges have an interest in research, most are not subject specialist in organisation.

The academic year is divided into three terms, each of eight weeks' duration. Michaelmas term lasts from early October to early December; Hilary normally from January until before Easter; and Trinity normally from after Easter until June. These terms are among the shortest of any British university, and the workload is intense.

Admission to the University

Admission to the University of Oxford for undergraduates is undertaken by colleges, which admit their own students to be taught partly in "tutorials" within their own colleges, and partly by lectures and classes by the university. For graduate students, admission is firstly by the university department in which each will study, and then secondarily with the college with which they are associated. Admisssion at the undergraduate level is selective and highly competitive, on the basis of school references, personal statements, achieved results, predicted results, written work, written tests and interviews.

Oxford, like Cambridge, has traditionally been regarded as elitist, and a preserve of the wealthy. The cost of taking a course, in the days before student grants were available, was prohibitive, and public schools prepared their pupils more specifically for the entrance examination, some even going so far as to encourage applicants to spend an extra year in the sixth form in order to study for it, whereas pupils from state schools rarely had this luxury. However, in the course of the 20th century, there was a continuous drive to admit a larger proportion of pupils from state schools, and this trend continues. Until the 1980s, there were relatively few places available for women, but numbers are now more or less equal.

Students successful in early examinations are rewarded with scholarships and exhibitions, normally the result of a long-standing endowment, although the amounts of money available are trivial: much larger funded bursaries are available on the basis of need for current and prospective students. ("Closed" scholarships, which were accessible only by candidates from specific schools, no longer exist.) Scholars and exhibitioners are entitled to wear a more voluminous undergraduate gown, "commoners" being restricted to a short sleeveless garment with strips of material to represent the "rags" of a poor student. The term, "scholar", in relation to Oxbridge, therefore has a specific meaning as well as the more general meaning of someone of outstanding academic ability.


The colleges

The "other" Oxford students

It may be noted that there is a second university at Oxford - Oxford Brookes University [1], formerly Oxford Polytechnic, for which entrance requirements are not so stringent and which is a modern campus university, located in the eastern suburbs of the city. There are also a number of independent "colleges" which have nothing to do with the university but are popular, particularly with overseas students, perhaps because they allow their students to state truthfully that they have studied at Oxford; these institutions vary considerably in the standard of teaching they provide.

Ruskin College, Oxford, an adult education college, though not part of the university, has close links with it.


Lists of well-known former students and present and former Fellows of the university can be found under the entries for the colleges. Note that an individual may be associated with two or more colleges, as an undergraduate and/or graduate student and as a member of staff. See also List of notable Oxford students


Institutions

Events and organisations connected with the university include:


Oxford in literature and the media

Oxford University is the setting for numerous works of fiction, including:

Ficitional universities based on Oxford include Unseen University and the Invisible College

Many poets have been inspired by the university:

Films set in the university include:

External link

References

Retrieved from "http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Oxford_University"
Personal tools