Portal:University of Oxford
Main page | Indices | Projects |
The University of Oxford portal
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation. It grew rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk, some Oxford academics fled northeast to Cambridge, where they established the University of Cambridge in 1209. The two English ancient universities share many common features and are jointly referred to as Oxbridge.
The University of Oxford is made up of 43 constituent colleges, consisting of 36 semi-autonomous colleges, four permanent private halls and three societies (colleges that are departments of the university, without their own royal charter), and a range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions. Each college is a self-governing institution within the university, controlling its own membership and having its own internal structure and activities. All students are members of a college. The university does not have a main campus, but its buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre. Undergraduate teaching at Oxford consists of lectures, small-group tutorials at the colleges and halls, seminars, laboratory work and occasionally further tutorials provided by the central university faculties and departments. Postgraduate teaching is provided in a predominantly centralised fashion.
Oxford operates the Ashmolean Museum, the world's oldest university museum; Oxford University Press, the largest university press in the world; and the largest academic library system nationwide. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2023, the university had a total consolidated income of £2.92 billion, of which £789 million was from research grants and contracts.
Oxford has educated a wide range of notable alumni, including 31 prime ministers of the United Kingdom and many heads of state and government around the world. As of October 2022,[update] 73 Nobel Prize laureates, 4 Fields Medalists, and 6 Turing Award winners have matriculated, worked, or held visiting fellowships at the University of Oxford, while its alumni have won 160 Olympic medals. Oxford is the home of numerous scholarships, including the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the oldest international graduate scholarship programmes. (Full article...)
Selected article
The position of Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture was established at Oxford in 1847. The professorship was instituted by John Ireland (pictured), Dean of Westminster from 1816 until his death in 1842, who acquired considerable riches during his ecclesiastical career. He left £10,000 to the university in his will, with the interest arising to be applied to the professorship. The first professor, Edward Hawkins, was appointed in 1847. In all, 12 men have held the position of Dean Ireland's Professor, with differing interests in scriptural exegesis (critical interpretation or explanation of biblical texts). Hawkins was elected on the strength of his reputation gained opposing the Oxford Movement (a group within the Church of England who aimed to reform the church by reasserting its links with the early Catholic church). In contrast, the third professor Henry Liddon was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement. Since 1932, the holder of the chair has been appointed to a fellowship at The Queen's College. Christopher Rowland became the latest Dean Ireland's Professor in 1991. (Full article...)
Selected biography
Richard Barrons (born 1959) is a general in the British Army, currently Commander, Joint Forces Command. After studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen's College, Oxford, his early army career was spent in various staff and field posts, serving his first tour of duty in the Balkans in 1993. After a tour in Northern Ireland, he became a Military Assistant to the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and then to the Chief of the General Staff. Between 2000 and 2003, Barrons served again in the Balkans, in Afghanistan during the early days of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and in Basra, Iraq. As a brigadier in 2003, Barrons served his second tour in Northern Ireland, this time as a brigade commander. In 2005, he was appointed to Assistant Chief of Staff, Commitments. He was promoted to major general in 2008 and deployed to Iraq for the second time, with responsibility for joint operations. He then served briefly with the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps before heading an ISAF reintegration unit in Afghanistan to provide incentives for Taliban soldiers to surrender. He later became Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations). (Full article...)
Selected college or hall
University College, founded by William of Durham in 1249, is one of the oldest of the Oxford colleges. Claims that it was founded by King Alfred the Great in 872 are no longer taken seriously by historians. It is one of the largest colleges in terms of student numbers, with about 420 undergraduates and 150 postgraduates. Univ, as it is generally known, has its main entrance on High Street, between Merton Street and Magpie Lane. The medieval buildings were replaced by the main quadrangle in the 17th century, after delays caused by the English Civil War. The Radcliffe Quadrangle was added in 1719. Women have been admitted as students since 1979. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley studied at the college but was expelled for writing The Necessity of Atheism; he is now commemorated by the Shelley Memorial. Two British prime ministers, Clement Attlee (student) and Harold Wilson (fellow) were members of the college, as were the American president Bill Clinton and the Australian prime minister Bob Hawke. Other alumni include the scientist Stephen Hawking, the writer C. S. Lewis and the poet Andrew Motion. (Full article...)
Selected image

Did you know
Articles from Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives about the university and people associated with it:
- ... that the statue of the Virgin and Child in the porch of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (pictured) was cited as evidence in Archbishop Laud's execution trial, and has bullet holes made by Oliver Cromwell's troops?
- ... that the great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, Leela Gandhi, is a senior lecturer at La Trobe University in the English program?
- ... that British Conservative MP Richard Hornby unsuccessfully challenged former Prime Minister and Labour leader Clement Attlee before securing a safe seat?
- ... that cyber law author and professor Jonathan Zittrain co-founded StopBadware.org to distribute the task of collecting data about malware to Internet users at large?
- ... that the military theories of the 18th-century Welsh soldier Henry Lloyd were studied by George Washington and George S. Patton?
Selected quotation
Selected panorama
On this day
Events for 19 February relating to the university, its colleges, academics and alumni. College affiliations are marked in brackets.
Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus