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Literae humaniores

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Literae humaniores , nicknamed Greats , is an undergraduate course focused on classics (Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Latin, ancient Greek, and philosophy) at the University of Oxford and some other universities. The Latin name means literally "more human literature" and was in contrast to the other main field of study when the university began, i.e. res divinae (or literae divinae , lit. div. ), also known as theology. Lit. hum. , is concerned with human learning, and lit. div. with learning treating of God. In its early days, it encompassed mathematics and natural sciences as well. It is an archetypal humanities course.

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142-415: The University of Oxford 's classics course, also known as greats , is divided into two parts, lasting five terms and seven terms respectively, the whole lasting four years in total, which is one year more than most arts degrees at Oxford and other English universities. The course of studies leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree. Throughout, there is a strong emphasis on first hand study of primary sources in

284-480: A Lord Chancellor of England and afterwards Bishop of Rochester , devised a series of regulations for college life; Merton College thereby became the model for such establishments at Oxford, 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

426-516: A Community College, similar to HKU's Centennial College, which been in a partnership arrangement with the University of Wollongong since 2014. Most of the public universities in India follow the collegiate system. The University of Mumbai, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of  Mumbai ,  Maharashtra , India. The University of Mumbai

568-460: A Regent Master of Theology at Paris, left a legacy to found University College, Oxford in 1249. Although this is taken as the foundation date of University College, it was not until after 1280 that the college actually began operating. At around the same time Balliol College was founded by John de Balliol via a grant of land in 1263 as a penance imposed by the Bishop of Durham, and Merton College

710-467: A big environment that's the common feature". In many collegiate universities, the teaching is centrally organised through departments and faculties on a university-wide basis. The level of participation in teaching of colleges in such universities varies: they may provide no formal teaching (e.g. Durham), may provide some teaching to their own students (the Oxbridge model), may provide some teaching that

852-519: 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: 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

994-549: A college is not obligatory for students, and only students in residence count as college members. The colleges manage admission to the college (but not the university) and provide academic tutorials to students. The University of the Arts Singapore (UAS) is a publicly-funded private collegiate university in Singapore. It is a federation of two local arts colleges — Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts , and LASALLE College of

1136-400: 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

1278-408: A collegial tradition in the mode of Oxbridge, but the federal principle has been widely emulated." Similarly a conference on The Collegiate Way in 2014 concentrated entirely on universities with residential colleges (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, etc.), making no mention of federal universities. This was in keeping with the idea that "The collegiate way is the notion that a curriculum, a library,

1420-740: A collegiate model, with five colleges on the Peterborough campus. All students are affiliated to a college. A notable collegiate university in Mainland China is The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen , which inherits the tradition from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shatin , Hong Kong. The number of collegiate universities in France has increased over the past years. These include: The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has an affiliated Anglican college, St John's College, which

1562-667: 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). The university's formal head is the Chancellor , currently Lord Patten of Barnes (due to retire in 2024), though as at most British universities,

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1704-456: A faculty, and students are not enough to make a college. It is an adherence to the residential scheme of things." Yet the federal principle has also been called the "Cambridge principle", and is sometimes seen as essential to a collegiate university. There is also dispute as to what is meant by a federal university: some writers have argued that the distinct feature of a federal system is the separation of teaching and examination, but others see

1846-545: A few years prior to this, been an examination board for its colleges, and Trinity College Dublin combined elements of the collegiate and professorial styles. More recently, the collegiate and federal traditions have been seen as separate in Britain, although both inspired by different aspects of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, e.g. "With the partial exception of Durham (and in the twentieth century York, Kent and Lancaster) there has been no serious attempt to create in Britain

1988-409: 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

2130-648: 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

2272-454: A group which evolved into the Society of Oxford Home-Students and in 1952 into St Anne's College . These first three societies for women were followed by St Hugh's (1886) and St Hilda's (1893). All of these colleges later became coeducational, starting with Lady Margaret Hall and St Anne's in 1979, and finishing with St Hilda's , which began to accept male students in 2008. In

2414-563: 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". This is looking to support three areas: academic posts and programmes, student support, and buildings and infrastructure; having passed its original target of £1.25 billion in March 2012, the target

2556-511: 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. Not all colleges offer all courses, but they generally cover a broad range of subjects. The colleges are: The permanent private halls were founded by different Christian denominations. One difference between

2698-440: A much larger number of exams than undergraduates reading for most other degrees at Oxford sit for their mods, prelims or even, in many cases, finals. Students who successfully pass mods may then go on to study the full greats course in their remaining seven terms. Those choosing the 'Course II' version are expected to read as many of their finals texts in the original of their chosen language as those on Course I; there is, moreover,

2840-574: A new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire , was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King Edward III . 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. The new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from

2982-491: A non-residential college model, and New York University has similar "learning communities" to support non-residential students. The specifics of how the collegiate system is organised – whether college membership is necessary for students, whether colleges are legally independent, the role colleges play in admissions, etc. – vary widely between different universities. While the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge consist of independent colleges that supplement

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3124-509: 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

3266-506: A range of undergraduate courses, but may also offer post-graduate courses. More established colleges may even offer PhD programs in some departments with the approval of the affiliating university. The only ' ancient university ' in Ireland , North or South, is the University of Dublin . Created during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , it is modelled on the collegiate universities of Cambridge and Oxford. However, only one constituent college

3408-578: 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

3550-484: 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. The university's professors are collectively referred to as the Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford . They are particularly influential in

3692-422: A typical "text" paper candidates will be expected first to translate into English three or four long passages selected by the examiners from the set books; and secondly to comment on each of an extended set of short paragraphs or sentences from the same set texts; marks are awarded for recognising the context and the significance of each excerpt. The mods (moderations – exams conducted by moderators) course runs for

3834-820: A university" but to which no other colleges had ever been added, the Durham system allowed for the university itself to found further colleges, which it did with the establishment of Hatfield College in 1846. The University of London , founded in 1836, was very different. It was, in its original form, an examining body for affiliated colleges . The first two of these - University College London (UCL; founded 1826) and King's College London (founded 1829) were already in existence and resembled non-collegiate 'unitary' universities, as found in Scotland and continental Europe, except in their lack of degree-awarding powers. There had been much dispute over UCL's attempt to gain recognition as

3976-480: A university, and the University of London was designed as a political solution to put an end to this dispute and to enable the students at both UCL and King's to receive degrees. It was modelled to a certain extent on Cambridge, where (at that time) the senate of the university was responsible for examinations and the colleges for the teaching, and also took on some features of the University of France , an institution established under Napoleon in 1808 that had absorbed

4118-580: A very curious federal institution in 1908 – its Durham division was itself collegiate, while its Newcastle division had two independent colleges (Armstrong College, the civic university college affiliated to Durham since its creation in 1871, and the Medical College, which had been affiliated since the 1850s). The two colleges of the Newcastle division were merged in 1937, and Newcastle finally became an independent university in 1963. Similarly,

4260-495: 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, 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

4402-554: A wide variety of lectures . The main teaching mechanism remains the weekly essay, one on each of the two main chosen subjects, typically written to be read out at a one-to-one tutorial ; this affords all students plenty of practice at writing short, clear, and well-researched papers. Changed in the late 20th century, a strong emphasis remains on study of original texts in Latin and Greek, assessed by prepared translation and by gobbet (a short commentary on an assigned primary source). In

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4544-501: Is Ulster University , which is located in Northern Ireland (see United Kingdom on this list). In Italy , independent halls of residence known as 'colleges of merit' operate in a number of university cities, offering tutoring, supplementary teaching, and additional diplomas. The university in which the collegiate model is most developed is the University of Pavia with four independent colleges (including two established in

4686-498: Is available university or faculty-wide (e.g. Toronto), or may be responsible for delivering centrally organised, university-wide teaching (e.g. Roehampton). Whatever their role in teaching, almost all are residential communities and they will often have their own halls for meals, libraries, sports teams and societies; such colleges are thus sometimes termed residential colleges . Monash University in Australia has, however, developed

4828-723: Is for the main part a unitary university, currently operate in this manner. This should not be confused with the situation where courses at an independent college are validated by a university but the college does not become part of that university, e.g. the relationship between the New College of the Humanities and Southampton Solent University from 2015 to 2020. Over time, the level of federation may evolve, particularly as independent colleges grow and seek to establish themselves as universities in their own right. University College London and King's College London were for much of

4970-483: 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

5112-511: Is now organized centrally within the university by the Faculty of Classics; this leaves the colleges free to concentrate on teaching classical literature/rhetoric, history and philosophy. The mods examination has a reputation as something of an ordeal: it evolved in the 21st century from 11 or 12 three-hour papers across seven consecutive days into 10 or 11 three-hour papers across seven or eight days. Candidates for classical mods thus still face

5254-567: Is one of the largest universities in the world. As of 2013, the university had 711 affiliated colleges. As of 22 November 2021, the UGC lists 441 state universities. The oldest establishment date listed by the UGC is 1857, shared by the  University of Calcutta , the  University of Madras  and the  University of Mumbai . Most State Universities are collegiate universities administering many affiliated colleges (often located in small towns) that typically offer

5396-455: Is possible to pass greats without offering any unprepared translation papers. The formerly optional prose and verse composition papers (English into Latin and Greek) have been removed from the greats syllabus entirely. University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford , England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it

5538-696: The Education Reform Act 1988 legally recognised as "Institutions of a University", while others are not; colleges of the University of London are recognised bodies under the 1988 act that have the right to award degrees of the University of London and (in many cases) their own degrees. Some colleges are legally independent of their parent university, while others are not. Collegiate universities with centralised teaching and undergraduate teaching in colleges: Collegiate universities with centralised teaching and residential-only colleges: Collegiate universities with centralised teaching carried out by

5680-616: 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

5822-637: The High Street is the oldest botanic garden in the UK. It contains over 8,000 different plant species on 1.8 ha ( 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 acres). 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 130-acre (53 ha) site six miles (9.7 km) south of the city that includes native woodland and 67 acres (27 hectares) of meadow. The 1,000-acre (4.0 km ) Wytham Woods are owned by

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5964-529: The Rhodes Scholarship , one of the oldest international graduate scholarship programmes. The University of Oxford's foundation date is unknown. 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. It is known that teaching at Oxford existed in some form as early as 1096, but it is unclear when

6106-503: The University of Dhaka , University of Rajshahi and University of Chittagong . In Canada the University of Toronto has a collegiate system for students in the faculty of Arts and Sciences on its St George campus that took form from the mid 19th century, originally modelled after that of Oxford. Toronto has a mix of independent and dependent colleges, all of which offer academic programmes that are available faculty-wide rather that just to members of that college. While all students of

6248-445: The University of Otago below). Residential colleges also commonly have members drawn from the university's academic staff in order to form a whole academic community. Students in residential colleges are often organised into a junior common room , with postgraduate students in a middle common room , and academic staff forming a senior common room . The development of the collegiate university in western Europe followed shortly after

6390-475: The University of Queensland , the University of Tasmania , the University of Western Australia , the University of Sydney , the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales . Monash University runs an unusual "non-residential college" system for students living off-campus. In Bangladesh , the National University, Bangladesh is a public collegiate university that

6532-479: The University of Wales, Cardiff ) and Imperial College London (formerly a college of the University of London). Similarly Newcastle University was part of the federal University of Durham until 1963 and the University of Dundee was a college of the University of St Andrews until 1967. A number of autonomous universities in South Africa were formerly colleges of the University of South Africa . Many of

6674-597: The " steamboat ladies " to receive ad eundem degrees from the University of Dublin . 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

6816-451: The 16th century: Collegio Borromeo , founded in 1561, and Collegio Ghislieri , founded in 1567) and 12 public colleges. However, neither in Pavia nor in any other Italian university do students have to be members of colleges. The University of Macau has moved to a residential college system since 2010, when two pilot colleges were established. Further colleges have been founded since, and

6958-623: The 17th and 18th centuries, persisted until 1834, when they (along with the religious orders that ran then) were suppressed following the Portuguese civil war. The colleges of Paris were closed along with the university itself and the rest of the French universities after the French Revolution, as were the colleges of the University of Salamanca . While the continental universities retained control over their colleges, in England it

7100-492: 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

7242-481: The 20th century dependent colleges of the central university, without separate legal identities, and all London colleges received funds through the University of London rather than directly. The trend since the latter half of the 20th century has been for increased decentralisation; taken to its ultimate, this has led some colleges to formally end their relations with the parent university to become degree-awarding universities. Examples include Cardiff University (formerly

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7384-433: 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. By 1988, 40% of undergraduates at Oxford were female; in 2016, 45% of the student population, and 47% of undergraduate students, were female. 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

7526-499: The Arts . It was announced as a planned-university in 2021, and took its present name in 2022. UAS will be the seventh local university of Singapore, and also will be the only publicly-funded private university other than the defunct and restructured UniSIM in Singapore. UAS will have its own degree-conferring power in Singapore. There are a number of British universities with colleges of different types. Some are listed bodies under

7668-594: The Arts, in Spanish: UNA - Universidad Nacional de las Artes , established in 1993 as a Collegiate University, incorporation of various national institutions dedicated to the teaching of fine arts. The origins of the current UNA University lay in the 1875 founding of the National Society of the Stimulus of the Arts by painters Eduardo Schiaffino, Eduardo Sívori, and others. Their guild was rechartered as

7810-630: 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. 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

7952-675: The College of St Thomas du Louvre (1186) and the College of the Good Children of St Honore (1208–1209) – although these may both have had more of the character of grammar schools than colleges of the university  – various monastic colleges starting with the Dominicans in 1217, and the College of Sorbonne for non-monastic theology students in 1257. From Paris, the idea spread to Oxford, where William of Durham , who had been

8094-597: The Faculty of Arts and Sciences on the St George campus are members of one of the colleges, students in other undergraduate faculties (Applied Science and Engineering, Architecture, Landscape and Design, Kinesiology and Physical Education, and Music) are only members of colleges if they live in a college residence, and the University of Toronto Mississauga and University of Toronto Scarborough are non-collegiate. Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario also has

8236-456: 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 ,

8378-807: The National Academy of Fine Arts in 1905 and, then in 1923, on the initiative of painter and academic Ernesto de la Cárcova, created as a department of arts extension education in the University of Buenos Aires , known as the Superior Art School of the Nation in Spanish "Escuela Nacional Superior de las Artes" . In Australia, many universities have residential college systems, often combining independent (frequently denominational) and university-owned colleges. Some universities also have non-collegiate residences. Collegiate universities include

8520-977: 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 ). 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

8662-501: The Oxford Martin Principles. The total assets of the colleges of £6.3 billion also exceed total university assets of £4.1 billion. 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. The university was one of the first in the UK to raise money through

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8804-572: The Principal of the University of Edinburgh in 1870 divided them into three types: collegiate (Oxford, Cambridge and Durham), professorial (the Scottish universities – St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh – and the new colleges in Manchester and London) and non-teaching examination boards (London). However, even at that time drawing hard lines was difficult: Oxford had, until

8946-466: The UK and the University of Pavia in Italy have a mix of independent and university-owned (or, in the case of Pavia, state-owned) colleges. In many collegiate universities, following the pattern of Oxford and Cambridge, membership of a college is obligatory for students, but in others it is either not necessary or only necessary for students in particular faculties, e.g. at the University of Toronto, where

9088-596: The US state systems started as single campuses but have evolved to become federal systems, and the University of the Philippines similarly started as one campus but is now a system of "constituent universities". There are around 80 universities around the world with residential college systems. In Argentina, the first educational institution to host this administrative format was IUNA Instituto Universitario Nacional de las Artes, since 2014 renamed UNA National University of

9230-455: The US were previously non-collegiate but have established residential colleges in the 20th or 21st century. There were around 30 universities with residential colleges in the US in 2010, examples include: Many state university systems consist of campuses that are legally part of a single corporation (e.g., the Regents of the University of California is the corporation that owns and operates

9372-494: The United Kingdom in the 1830s, and has been described as "a far better model for people at other institutions to look to, than are the independent colleges of Oxford and Cambridge". This has been widely followed in the US, where the colleges at universities such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton are entirely owned by the central university. Some universities, such as the University of Otago in New Zealand, Durham University in

9514-447: The University of London from 1900. The level of legal separation – e.g. whether the colleges are separate corporate bodies – varies between universities. As the colleges are primarily teaching institutions, they may not always be residential communities and many are effectively universities in their own right. Some colleges are part of loose federations that allow them to exercise nearly complete self-governance, and even (as in

9656-419: 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. The university passed a statute in 1875 allowing examinations for women at roughly undergraduate level; for a brief period in the early 1900s, this allowed

9798-455: The appropriate "core" papers too, and if they choose to offer "period" papers in history then they must offer one of the approved combinations. In the past it was compulsory also to offer papers in unprepared translation from Latin and Greek into English; these papers counted "below the line" — candidates were required to pass them, but they did not otherwise affect the overall class of the degree. This requirement has now been dropped, and it

9940-564: 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. 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. 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

10082-442: The case of colleges of the University of London ) award their own degrees. Other colleges are not legally separate from their parent university, e.g. the University of the Arts, London (UAL) in the UK and many state university systems in the US. In some US state systems, a " flagship campus " may be identified – often the original campus of the system – which is considered (either officially or informally) to stand above

10224-631: The central university. The Conference of Colleges was established as a recommendation of the Franks Commission in 1965. 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

10366-526: 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. The university was a centre of the Royalist party during the English Civil War (1642–1649), while the town favoured the opposing Parliamentarian cause. Wadham College , founded in 1610, was the undergraduate college of Sir Christopher Wren . Wren

10508-544: 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

10650-523: 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. 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

10792-434: The colleges are all associated with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Sometimes, as noted above, referred to as federal universities , these are universities where the teaching function is entirely carried out by constituent colleges, which will often have their own faculties and departments. This is represented by examples such as Oxford and Cambridge up to the mid 19th century, the University of Wales from 1893 to 2007, and

10934-412: The colleges of Oxford or Paris. Colleges evolved in different directions in different places, but many European universities lost their colleges in the early 18th century. At the University of Coimbra , for example, many colleges were established in the 16th century, although these were limited to the study of theology with the other faculties remaining non-collegiate. These colleges, joined by others in

11076-464: The colleges', is managed by the university's wholly-owned endowment management office, Oxford University Endowment Management, formed in 2007. The university used to maintain substantial investments in fossil fuel companies. 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

11218-541: The colleges: Collegiate universities where all teaching is carried out in the colleges: Unitary universities with centralised teaching and associated colleges that carry out their own teaching: The US has a wide variety of systems. There are a number of universities with residential colleges , most of which are owned by the central university, which may be referred to as residential colleges or as houses. These do not normally participate in formal teaching, although there are exceptions to this. Most collegiate universities in

11360-599: The continuing decline in the numbers of applicants who have had the opportunity to study Greek and Latin at school. Since the early 1970s, it has been possible to begin learning Greek during the preparation for mods (an option originally called mods-B, the brainchild of John G. Griffiths of Jesus ). More recently, due to the omission of Latin and Greek from the National Curriculum since 1988, options have been added for those also without Latin. There are now five alternative paths through mods. Language tuition

11502-578: 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. 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. By 1872,

11644-414: The departments. In 2017–18, the university had an income of £2,237m; key sources were research grants (£579.1m) and academic fees (£332.5m). The colleges had a total income of £492.9m. While the university has a larger annual income and operating budget, the colleges have a larger aggregate endowment: over £6.4bn compared to the university's £1.2bn. The central University's endowment, along with some of

11786-604: The development of the medieval university itself. The first college to be established was the Collège des Dix-Huit at the University of Paris , founded in 1180 by John of London shortly after he had returned from Jerusalem. This has led to the suggestion that the college was inspired by madrasas he saw on his travels, although this has been disputed, particularly as, unlike madrasas, the early Paris colleges did not teach. Other colleges appeared in Paris shortly after this, including

11928-427: The distinction as being one of governance and distribution of authority. A distinction is sometimes made between federal universities , collegiate universities (where the college is the primary academic unit, i.e. Oxford and Cambridge) and universities that have residential colleges but where these do not participate in teaching. One definition of a collegiate university states that "it's the sense of community within

12070-539: 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

12212-421: The early 20th century, Oxford and Cambridge were widely perceived to be bastions of male privilege ; 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

12354-545: The entire University of California system), but are operationally independent. Examples of such institutions include the University of California , the State University of New York , the University of Michigan , the University of Texas System . Like UC Santa Cruz , UC San Diego also has a residential college system inspired by the British model. At both campuses, the academic resources are provided primarily by

12496-585: The federal University of New Zealand was established in 1874. A modification of the University of London plan was used for the Queen's University of Ireland , established in 1850. This took in three newly established colleges: the Queen's Colleges of Belfast , Cork and Galway . This was more federal than London, but proved inflexible and was replaced in 1880 by the Royal University of Ireland , which

12638-429: The first five terms of the course. The traditional aim was for students to develop their ability to read fluently in Latin and Greek. The works of Virgil and the two Homeric epics were compulsory, and other works had to be chosen from a given list. There were also unseen translations from both languages, and compulsory translation into prose, and voluntary into verse, in both languages. The course has now changed to reflect

12780-437: The five undergraduate colleges operate two intercollegiate athletic programs , with Claremont, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps forming one program and Pomona and Pitzer the other. Some universities that once featured collegiate systems have lost them to mergers or suppression, due to financial, political or other reasons, or (in the case of federal universities) the individual colleges becoming independent universities. Examples include

12922-431: The formal teaching from the central administration of the university. Any full-time undergraduate at the university may apply for affiliation to a college. The three original colleges were founded as separate institutions which federated to found the university in 1963, and over the first two and a half decades teaching departments were merged as the university became more centralised. The City University of Hong Kong has

13064-436: The formerly independent French universities as "academies" within a single university structure. Unlike Oxford and Cambridge, the affiliated colleges of London (which were spread across the country, not confined to London) were not constituent parts of the university and had no say in its running. Another major difference was that both UCL and King's were non-residential, providing teaching but not accommodation. This would provide

13206-403: The fossil fuel industry between 2010 and 2015, £18.8 million between 2015 and 2020 and £1.6 million between 2020 and 2021. Collegiate university A collegiate university is a university where functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges . Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college

13348-399: The foundation of New College – also the first college there to take undergraduate students. In Bologna and other Italian universities, the colleges, as Rashdall put it, "remained to the last (what all Colleges were originally intended to be) eleemosynary institutions for the help of poor students, boarding-houses and not places of education" and never acquired the same importance as

13490-477: The idea of the examining university with affiliated colleges around the British Empire , in particular to Canada where the University of Toronto was refounded as an examining university, its teaching arm becoming University College, Toronto , which federated other colleges in the region, and to India, where the universities of Calcutta , Madras and Bombay were founded in 1857, and New Zealand, where

13632-583: The imperialist Cecil Rhodes in 1902. In 1996 a donation of £20 million was received from Wafic Saïd who was involved in the Al-Yammah arms deal , and taking £150 million from the US billionaire businessman Stephen A. Schwarzman in 2019. 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

13774-473: The intention that this will equalise rates of firsts awarded to women and men at Oxford. That same summer, maths and computer science tests were extended by 15 minutes, in a bid to see if female student scores would improve. 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 ), and

13916-502: 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. 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

14058-465: The last of these had split into "Jurisprudence" and "Modern History". Theology became the sixth honour school. In addition to these B.A. Honours degrees, the postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) was, and still is, offered. 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

14200-586: The late 15th century onwards. Among university scholars of the period were William Grocyn , who contributed to the revival of Greek language studies, and John Colet , the noted biblical scholar . 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 . The method of teaching at Oxford

14342-435: 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. The list of distinguished scholars at

14484-433: The masters were recognised as a universitas or corporation in 1231. The university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III . After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge , later forming the University of Cambridge . The students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two ' nations ', representing

14626-420: The mid-13th century, gained influence and maintained houses or halls for students. 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 ,

14768-446: The model for the civic colleges that were established in the major English cities, which later became the redbrick universities . After 1858 the requirement for colleges to be affiliated was dropped and London degrees were available to anyone who could pass the examinations. It was not until 1900 that London, after a period of sustained pressure from the teaching institutions in London, became a federal university. The London pattern spread

14910-611: The oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation . It grew rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris . After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk, some Oxford academics fled northeast to Cambridge , where, in 1209, they established the University of Cambridge . The two English ancient universities share many common features and are jointly referred to as Oxbridge . The University of Oxford

15052-409: 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,

15194-417: The option of studying the second classical language as two papers at finals. The traditional greats course consisted of Greek and Roman history on the one hand, and philosophy on the other. The philosophy included Plato and Aristotle, and also modern philosophy, both logic and ethics, with a critical reading of standard texts. In 1968 an elective ' Latin and Greek Literature' was added; students chose two of

15336-444: The original Greek or Latin. In the first part ( honour moderations or mods ) students concentrate on Latin and/or Ancient Greek ; in the second part students choose eight papers from the disciplines of classical literature , Greek and Roman history , Philosophy , Archaeology , and Linguistics . The teaching style is very traditional and consists of weekly tutorials in each of the two main subjects chosen, supplemented by

15478-535: The original role of the college as a residential rather than educational institution (c.f. Rashdall 's comments on the Bologna colleges, above). It also pioneered the concept of residential colleges being owned by the university rather than being established as independent corporations, which provided a useful model for modern institutions looking to establish colleges. Unlike the earlier foundation of Trinity College Dublin , which had been established as "the mother of

15620-540: The other campuses in the system (e.g. University of Wisconsin–Madison , University of Colorado Boulder ). Some universities may have centralised teaching but also have colleges that do not access that centralised teaching. Historically, this was the case at Durham University for the medical school and Armstrong College in the late 19th and early 20th century (prior to the formation of a true federal university in 1908) and for University College Stockton from 1994 to 2001. The two colleges of Queen's University Belfast , which

15762-449: The principal difference between these and non-collegiate halls of residence (or dormitories) is that "colleges are societies (Latin collegia ), not buildings". This is expressed in different ways in different universities; commonly students are members of a college, not residents of a college, and remain members whether they are living in the college or not, but this is not universal and the distinction may be drawn in other ways (see, e.g.,

15904-440: 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 . All students, regardless of their chosen area of study, were required to spend (at least) their first year preparing for

16046-612: 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 only 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. To be

16188-487: The spires in the city centre. The development has been likened to building a "skyscraper beside Stonehenge ". 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 . The Botanic Garden on

16330-479: The three colleges all becoming universities in their own right. The federal University of Wales was created in 1893 as a national university for Wales, taking in pre-existing colleges in Aberystwyth, Cardiff and Bangor that had been preparing students for London degrees. It lasted as a federal university until 2007, when it became a confederal non-membership degree-awarding body. The University of Durham became

16472-524: The three. Since then, various combined courses have also been developed including: In 2004 the full lit. hum. course was revised; students examined since 2008 now choose eight papers from a wide range of subject areas: The regulations governing the combinations of papers are moderately simple: students must take at least four papers based on the study of ancient texts in the original Latin or Greek; otherwise they can choose what they want, provided only that if they offer literature papers, they must offer

16614-481: The time, and might be a source of satisfaction to him in after life. 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). M. C. Curthoys and H. S. Jones argue that

16756-444: The universities as the tutors had taken over the teaching from the professors. Royal Commissions in the 1850s led to Acts of Parliament in 1854 (for Oxford) and 1856 (for Cambridge) that, among other measures, limited the power of the colleges. Prior to these reforms, however, the first two new universities in England for over 600 years were established, both offering new versions of the collegiate university. The University of Durham

16898-410: The universities with only limited involvement in teaching. The American state university systems also developed federal-style universities with autonomous campuses (although normally not legally independent). As these systems often developed from a single original campus, this often became identified as the 'flagship' campus of the state system. An early typology of British university institutions by

17040-422: The university and used for research in zoology and climate change . 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

17182-407: The university and were given the right to take degrees. 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

17324-518: The university became collegiate in 2014, with 10 colleges in operation. In New Zealand the University of Otago has 15 residential colleges , of which one (Abbey College) is postgraduate-only, nine are undergraduate-only and five take both postgraduate and undergraduate students. Most of the colleges are owned and managed by the university, but there are five independent "affiliated colleges" ( City College , Knox College , St Margaret's College , Salmond College and Selwyn College ). Membership of

17466-415: 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

17608-464: The university college in Dundee , founded 1881, became a college of the University of St Andrews in 1897 before becoming an independent university in 1967. The idea of the residential college spread to America in the early 20th century, with Harvard and Yale both establishing colleges (called "houses" at Harvard) in the 1930s. Like the Durham colleges, these were colleges established and owned by

17750-605: The university's statutes. 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

17892-437: The university's teaching with their own tutorials, some universities have built colleges that do not provide teaching but still perform much of the housing and social duties. Such colleges are planned, built and funded entirely by the central administration and are thus dependent on it, however they still retain their own administrative structures and have a degree of independence. This system was pioneered at Durham University in

18034-592: The university, but each residential college follows its own educational philosophy and sets out its own degree requirements. The Claremont Colleges in California operate a hybrid federal-constituent system. All 7 colleges are independently governed: Pomona College , Scripps College , Claremont McKenna College , Harvey Mudd College , Pitzer College as undergraduate colleges as well as Claremont Graduate University and Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences as graduate universities. Their founding model

18176-466: The women's colleges were given full collegiate status. In 1974, Brasenose , Jesus , Wadham , Hertford and St Catherine's became the first previously all-male colleges to admit women. The majority of men's colleges accepted their first female students in 1979, with Christ Church following in 1980, and Oriel becoming the last men's college to admit women in 1985. Most of Oxford's graduate colleges were founded as coeducational establishments in

18318-638: Was an examining university based more directly on London. Also in 1880 another federal university, the Victoria University , was established in the north of England to solve the problem of Owen's College, Manchester, seeking university status. This originally just took in Owen's College, but grew to take in university colleges in Leeds and Liverpool. However, it unravelled in 1903-4 after Birmingham successfully became England's first unitary university, with

18460-526: Was based on that of the University of Oxford and they are linked through the Claremont University Consortium , though, unlike other constituent college systems, degrees are conferred separately by the seven constituent institutions and they exist as universities and liberal arts colleges in their own right. The colleges are spread over a square mile site and share certain departmental, library and research facilities. In addition,

18602-574: Was established in 1992 by an Act of Parliament as an affiliating university of the country to impart graduate and post-graduate level education to the students through its affiliated colleges, schools and professional institutions throughout the country. It is the second largest university in the world according to enrollment. The headquarters is in Gazipur , on the outskirts of Dhaka . After its establishment, it affiliated association degree awarding colleges, where many of them were previously affiliated by

18744-521: Was ever founded, hence the curious position of Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), today. All of the teaching is provided by the college, with degrees being awarded by the university. Within the Republic of Ireland , the four constituent universities of the federal National University of Ireland (NUI) are, for all essential purposes, independent universities. The other truly collegiate university in Ireland

18886-430: Was founded in 1832, taking Oxford for its model, and University College, Durham was created at the same time. This college, unlike those of Oxford and Cambridge, was not legally distinct from the university and nor was it responsible for teaching, which was carried out by university professors rather than college tutors. This restored the teaching role of the central university that had been lost at Oxford and Cambridge and

19028-725: Was founded in 1912 and has its own charter. The university also established Robert Black College in 1967 as a university guesthouse. Over the past decade some of the new residential halls were named colleges, including the Lap-Chee College, the Shun Hing College and the Chi Sun College. Centennial College, a provider of post-secondary education, is affiliated with the university. The Chinese University of Hong Kong has 9 colleges which provide pastoral support and non-formal learning opportunities to supplement

19170-430: Was founded with an endowment by Walter de Merton in 1264. These original Oxford colleges were "merely endowed boardinghouses for impoverished scholars", and were limited to those who had already received their Bachelor of Arts degree and were reading for higher degrees (usually theology). It was not until 1305 that teaching started in the College of Navarre in Paris, an innovation that reached Oxford in 1379 with

19312-428: Was not such as to conduce to the advancement in life of many persons, except those intended for the ministry." Nevertheless, Walpole argued: 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

19454-571: 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 . Before reforms in

19596-405: Was raised to £3 billion. The campaign had raised a total of £2.8 billion by July 2018. 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, and Oriel College having receiving taken £100,000 from the will of

19738-692: Was the Collège des Dix-Huit . The two principal forms are residential college universities, where the central university is responsible for teaching and colleges may deliver some teaching but are primarily residential communities, and federal universities where the central university has an administrative (and sometimes examining) role and the colleges may be residential but are primarily teaching institutions. The larger colleges or campuses of federal universities, such as University College London and University of California, Berkeley , are effectively universities in their own right and often have their own student unions . For universities with residential colleges ,

19880-407: Was the colleges that came to dominate the universities. The Hebdomadal Board was established by William Laud at Oxford in 1631 with the intent of diluting the influence of Congregation (the assembly of regent masters) and Convocation (the assembly of all graduates). This led to criticism in the 19th century, with William Hamilton alleging that the colleges had unlawfully usurped the functions of

20022-448: 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. In 1636, William Laud , the chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury , codified

20164-486: 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. 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,

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