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61-621: A common room is a group into which students (and sometimes the academic body) are organised in some universities, particularly in the United Kingdom, normally in a subdivision of the university such as a college or hall of residence , in addition to an institution-wide students' union . They represent their members within the hall or college, operate certain services within these institutions such as laundry or recreation, and provide opportunities for socialising. There are variations based on institutional tradition and needs, but classically

122-728: A campus at two universities - the University of Western Australia and Curtin University. Residential colleges or Halls of Residence in New Zealand are common across the country's universities, particular for housing first year students. University of Auckland has 6 Halls , while University of Otago in Dunedin has a particular strong set of colleges modelled on the Oxbridge system. Each of Otago's 15 colleges has its own distinctive 'personality', history, and traditions. In Italy ,

183-406: A college has only a single student common room. At Durham University , the standard division followed at most colleges is: Some colleges have slight differences from the standard arrangement: Membership of the college JCR or MCR is not obligatory, and costs an additional fee, but the vast majority of students choose to join. Following the removal of exempt charity status from students' unions by

244-612: A college when not resident in the college; thus college JCRs serve all students who are members of the college, whether or not they live in college accommodation, while hall JCRs serve only residents of that hall. As well as in the UK, organisations known as common rooms are found in universities in Australia, Ghana, Ireland, Singapore and the US In addition to this, each of the above terms may also refer to an actual common room designated for

305-416: A further college for postgraduate students). Each undergraduate college is a quasi-autonomous body within the university, and each divides its members into junior and senior common rooms. These terms are more indicative of the collective student/staff bodies than actual space, although each college has actual common rooms set aside for junior members. Senior members are less fortunate due to a current policy by

366-506: A number of small-scale residential communities are formed within the dormitories to link studies and life together. GIST College has gained positive outcomes in undergraduate students' dormitory life as well as university life as a whole. Charities Act 2006 The Charities Act 2006 (c 50) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to alter the regulatory framework in which charities operate, partly by amending

427-440: A range of social and sporting activities for its college while also offering welfare support for its junior members. The president and vice president represent their college at the student union council and on a range of university committees, and many JCR executive members sit with SCR members on the college syndicate – the governing body of each college. Within the graduate college, the graduate students' association (GSA) takes on

488-410: A residential college and a dormitory is often considered to be that while a student lives in a dormitory for a year, they are a member of a college for their entire student life, even when not living in the dormitories associated with that college: "Residential colleges are collegia in the original sense: societies, not buildings, and their members may reside anywhere". However, as can be seen above, this

549-536: A senior common room, composed of academics, alumni and others from the local area. However, the student representative bodies in the houses are known as "HoCo" (short for "house committee"), with the term "junior common room" referring to an actual room. Residential college A prominent model for residential colleges is the Oxbridge model at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge , where

610-601: A single officer to an elected committee was Fitzwilliam in 1969. The same abbreviations, JCR, MCR, and SCR are used for combination rooms and common rooms. The JCR represents undergraduates , with postgraduate students being members of the middle combination room. In some colleges, postgraduates are members of both the MCR and JCR: for example, at St John's , where the MCR is known as the Samuel Butler Room or at Peterhouse. Most colleges also have an SCR. At Pembroke

671-601: A small fraction of the university population. By point of comparison, the colleges at the Australian National University provide a mix of the above and a singular focus on the provision of accommodation and Monash University provides a college experience, but mostly without any academic support, the exception is the affiliated Mannix College. St Catherine's College in Western Australia is the first residential college in Australia to have

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732-509: A whole. At Leeds , only one hall continues to have a JCR. Devonshire Hall is the last of the university's traditional halls. Many traditions were adopted from Oxford and Cambridge, such as gowned formal dinners and carol services. The hall has a JCR (the Tabbron Junior Common Room) rather than a common room as at the other halls of the university, and the student committee is styled as the "JCR executive" rather than as

793-439: Is also the case for three of the newer colleges at Oxford, which are formally "societies" of the university. The University of Roehampton has four colleges (all founded in the 19th century) that joined to form the university. The teaching of the university takes place within the colleges, with academic departments being associated with a particular college. Roehampton colleges are, therefore, both residential and academic, but with

854-483: Is common at Durham but rare at other universities. As colleges vary in size between universities – the median Durham college had 1400 students in 2021/22, while the median Oxford college had 640 students – so do the sizes of their common rooms. The earliest junior common rooms at the University of Oxford , dating back to the 17th century, were private student clubs, limited to richer students who could afford their membership fees, and known for drinking and debauchery. With

915-492: Is not common to all variants of the residential college system. In addition, the members of a residential college are usually expected to eat their meals together, as a unified body. Standard dormitories tend to have residents who move between dorm complexes every year, and who eat in dining halls largely mixed with residents of other dormitories. However, residential colleges can be self-catering (e.g. Josephine Butler College, Durham ), yet still clearly identified as colleges. In

976-574: The 31 residential colleges ) and those (e.g. Northwestern University ) where not all students are members of colleges. Another variant at some US universities is residential colleges that do not cover all years at the institute, e.g. Princeton University 's system of mandatory residency the first two years, with an option to move outside one's residential college as an upperclassman, or Cornell University 's West Campus House System, which only takes sophomores and above, with most upperclass students either living off campus or in dorms unaffiliated with

1037-614: The Charities Act 1993 . The Act was mostly superseded by the Charities Act 2011 , which consolidates charity law in the UK. The Act contains three main provisions: definition of the requirements to qualify as a charity, the establishment of a Charity Tribunal to hear appeals from decisions of the Charity Commission , and alterations to the requirements for registering charities. The Act imposes conditions on bodies wishing to attain or maintain charitable status. For

1098-477: The Charities Act 2006 , common rooms (and other students' unions) were exempt charities, but under that act and the successor Charities Act 2011 they are now required to register with the Charity Commission if they have an income of £100,000 per annum or higher. As of February 2023, eight common rooms are registered with the commission, all from colleges of Durham University . Like other students' unions, student common rooms may appoint sabbatical officers ; this

1159-527: The Charities Act 2006 , some of the student common rooms at the maintained colleges remained independent charities, recognised as student unions under the Education Act 1994 , while most voted to become 'student organisations' within the university's Durham Student Organisations (DSO)framework. Common rooms can vote to leave the DSO framework and become registered charities, or vice-versa. As of 2022, seven of

1220-459: The Charities Act 2006 , student common rooms had the option of registering as independent charities or of registering with their college, with some common rooms taking each route. At Magdalen , for example, which was one of the first colleges to complete the process, the JCR voted to become an independent charity while the MCR registered with the college. St Catherine's JCR "declared independence" from

1281-491: The United Kingdom and Ireland follow a variety of models. In Oxford and Cambridge , a residential college combines both the residential and part of the academic aspects of the university in one location. "Tutorials" (Oxford) or "supervisions" (Cambridge) are generally given within the college, but lectures are organised by the wider university. In most universities in the UK with residential colleges – Durham (from

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1342-489: The United States the model diversified further. The Durham adaptation of colleges being owned by the university rather than being independent corporations is generally followed and many universities, including Yale and Harvard , also follow Durham in keeping teaching centralised. There is also a split between fully collegiate universities (e.g. the University of Notre Dame , where all freshmen are put in one of

1403-788: The University of Oklahoma , the University of California, San Diego , and the University of California, Santa Cruz . Many other institutions use the system as well. At the University of Virginia , students may apply to live in one of three residential colleges; acceptance rates vary widely. In 2001 Vanderbilt University decided to convert to a residential college system. Since that time, Vanderbilt has built and renovated residential facilities to suit this program, including The Commons for first-year students and several colleges for upper class students. At UC Santa Cruz and San Diego, all majors are available to students of any college, but each college has its own curricular requirements, especially with regard to general education. Collegiate structures in

1464-531: The University of Toronto and York University have a well-established collegiate system including a number of "federated colleges" and "constituent colleges". Initially, the University of Victoria maintained a system of residential colleges (including Craigdarroch College and Lansdowne College) built around central courtyards, before adopting a more centralized residential system which is now made up of Permanent Halls (e.g., Ring Road Hall) and Common Rooms. Other Canadian universities with residential colleges include

1525-462: The University of Waterloo , the University of Western Ontario , the University of Manitoba , the University of British Columbia , Trent University and its colleges, Paton College at Memorial University of Newfoundland . Three Canadian residential colleges are distinguished by being for graduate students rather than undergraduates — Green College, Vancouver and St. John's College, Vancouver colleges at UBC, and Massey College, Toronto at

1586-402: The "Summer Common Room" at Magdalen College , or the "Alumni Common Room" at St John's College . These are sometimes, but not always, associated with a particular section of the student or academic body. At the University of Cambridge , common rooms as rooms have existed for a long time. However, it was only in the mid 20th century that the idea of the JCR committee as a representative body of

1647-479: The "hall exec". A Senior Common Room is also present. Other halls such as Lyddon, Charles Morris, Oxley, Ellerslie, Tetley, Bodington Hall and Weetwood formerly followed the same format; however, the use of the term JCR in these halls has fallen into disuse since 2000 - in the case of the first four halls through modernisation, or in the case of the latter three halls through closure. At the University of Nottingham there are junior common room committees in many of

1708-564: The 1960s, similar arrangements, modelled on the JCRs, were put in place for them in the shape of middle common rooms. A typical college now has a JCR for undergraduates, an MCR for graduates and an SCR for its fellows. JCRs and MCRs have a committee, with a president and so on, that represent their students to college authorities, the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU), etc., in addition to being an actual room for

1769-407: The 19th century) along with Kent , Lancaster and York (from the 1960s) – formal teaching is carried out only in academic departments. Their colleges are primarily residential and the focus for social and sporting activities, as well as for student welfare. In these universities, the colleges are (with the exception of two early 20th century colleges at Durham) owned by their parent university; this

1830-547: The BA Rooms. Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge , has both a JCR, MCR, and SCR along with a Sidney Sussex College Students' Union of which all students are members. At Homerton College the JCR is known as the Homerton Union of Students. The president is the only sabbatical JCR or equivalent officer at a Cambridge college. JCRs and MCRs have elected committees to represent their interests within their colleges and in

1891-694: The Charity Commission, which previously lay only to the High Court . The Tribunal was abolished in September 2009 and its functions transferred to the First-tier Tribunal . The Act raises the threshold above which registration is required with the Charity Commission from £1,000 to £5,000. This is intended to reduce administration costs for small charities. In addition, charities which fall under certain exempted categories under

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1952-652: The College Common Room, taking in both staff and students. It has at various times been termed the Staff Common Room and the Senior Common Room. Its membership includes academic, administrative and technical staff. The University of New England has a residential college system, with the colleges having JCRs that organise social events. The University of Ghana has JCRs representing students from its undergraduate halls as well as in

2013-475: The OUSU council meetings take place in odd-numbered weeks of the university term. JCR presidents also get together in even-numbered weeks for meetings of the presidents' committee (popularly known as prescom ). MCR presidents also get together up to three times a term for meetings of the MCR presidents' committee (popularly known as MCR-prescom ). In addition, colleges sometimes have additional common rooms, such as

2074-801: The United States, as in many collegiate universities in the UK, the academic and residential functions of the residential college system are normally separated, with the colleges primarily as residential and social units. Although residential colleges in some universities offer some classes, these offerings supplement the offerings of the major academic which have separate facilities. Other US institutions not mentioned above that have residential colleges include Binghamton University , Furman University , Murray State University , Rice University , Washington University in St. Louis , University of Miami , Central Michigan University , Southern Methodist University ,

2135-496: The University of Toronto. In Australia , colleges perform different functions at different universities. Colleges at the University of Melbourne , University of Sydney , University of Queensland, University of Adelaide, University of Tasmania and the University of Western Australia provide academic, sporting and cultural programs in addition to those offered by their parent institution and each individual college has its own personality, history and traditions. However, they only serve

2196-584: The academic organisation on very different lines from Oxford and Cambridge. The University of London and the University of the Highlands and Islands are federal universities whose colleges are independent teaching institutes (some, in the case of London, being universities in their own right) rather than residential colleges. The University of the Arts London is similarly organised, with six constituent teaching colleges, except that these are all owned by

2257-502: The business school. Trinity Hall, Dublin has the only JCR at Trinity College . The JCR is the representative body for students living at the hall, and primarily provides services to resident students, while Trinity College Dublin Students' Union is the main representative body for student members of the college. The college also has a number of 'student spaces' termed JCRs around the campus. Trinity Hall also has an SCR, consisting of

2318-630: The central students' union. The committees are almost universally led by a president and a range of other elected positions to cover specific areas or interest or functions (e.g. secretary, treasurer, entertainment). There is a great deal of variety between the colleges in terms of the roles that the JCRs and MCRs undertake, how much influence they have in college affairs and how many functions they provide. Nearly all are responsible for organising Freshers Week and frequent entertainments. Cambridge Students' Union 's student council has two members per college, corresponding to one for each JCR and MCR except where

2379-734: The central university rather than being joined in a federal structure. The University of Dublin (founded 1592) in Ireland has only one constituent college, Trinity College Dublin , which is thus effectively the whole university rather than a residential college. The University of St Andrews in Scotland contains three colleges, but these have neither a teaching nor residential role. Many universities in Canada have collegiate systems similar to those in British collegiate universities. For instance,

2440-453: The chairs of the JCR and MCR presidents' committees. Colleges have an elected 'college committee' representing students, called either a JCR committee or a college student association (CSA) committee. As of 2023, most colleges have a student association, but Derwent and James still have JCRs and Wentworth , a graduate-only college, has a Graduate Student Association. At Lancaster , undergraduates are members of one of eight colleges (with

2501-436: The college authorities in 2015 in protest against financial controls imposed by the college. There exist several exceptions to the standard common room system. Instead of maintaining a separate JCR and MCR, St Benet's Hall maintained a Joint Common Room (JCR) which jointly represented both undergraduate and graduate students, until the hall's closure in 2022. At Nuffield College , an all-graduate college founded in 1937 before

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2562-412: The college battels, making it an inclusive society of all undergraduates in the college. Rather than a rich students' drinking club, the JCR became the centre of undergraduate life and the main point of contact between the college and the undergraduates. By the end of the 19th century, similar arrangements were put in place at almost all Oxford colleges. When post-graduate numbers increased dramatically in

2623-403: The colleges are legally independent constituents of the universities that are both residential and teaching institutions. This model was modified at Durham University , also in the UK, in the 19th century to create non-teaching colleges that were, in general, legally part of the university, but with a few independent colleges added in the 20th century. With the arrival of residential colleges in

2684-609: The common rooms are called "parlours", such as the Junior Parlour and Graduate Parlour. At Jesus College, Cambridge , the JCR is known as "The Jesus College Students' Union", with its physical space being the Marshall Room. A similar arrangement is found at Trinity College , where the JCR is known as the 'Trinity College Students' Union' and occupies the physical JCR, and the MCR is known as the BA Society, occupying

2745-460: The conception of MCRs, students are members of a JCR. Additionally, although Wadham College maintains a separate JCR and MCR, its entire student population is represented by a combined students' union (SU). Alternative names are sometimes used for college MCRs. Brasenose College has the "Hulme Common Room" (HCR), and University College has the "Weir Common Room", named in honour of college alumni . At Christ Church , St Antony's and Templeton

2806-405: The fifteen maintained colleges have independent JCRs (or equivalent) and eight are DSOs. Among the independent colleges, St John's Common Room is an independent charity (taking in the MCR and Cranmer Common Room). For student common rooms that are independent, the college council in each maintained college is responsible for ensuring (on behalf of the university's council) that the common room follows

2867-473: The following common rooms will exist: Common rooms are particularly found at collegiate universities such as Oxford , Cambridge , Durham , York and Lancaster , but can also be found (often only the JCR) at non-collegiate universities, where they are normally associated with halls of residence. A significant difference between colleges and halls of residence generally is that students continue to be members of

2928-482: The halls of residence that organise social events for residents of those halls. University of Reading JCRs are part of the Reading University Students' Union. There is an elected JCR committee at each hall of residence, which represents the students living in that hall and organise social events. The Staff Common Room (SCR) is the staff social club at the university. It began life in 1897 as

2989-552: The lack of housing available to the students, only the freshmen year participate in the residential college. MIRAE campus operates 7 houses and the residential college campus in Songdo operates 12 houses. There is another residential college in GIST(Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) College at Gwangju, South Korea. The house system is a dormitory system being implemented at Caltech, Harvard, etc. in which

3050-442: The purposes of the law, a charitable organisation must demonstrate that it serves the public interest , and that its purpose lies entirely in the promotion of one or more of the following causes: Prior to 2008, the law assumed that advancement of education or religion were automatically in the public interest. A "public benefit" now needs to be demonstrated. The Act established a "Charity Tribunal" to hear appeals from decisions of

3111-405: The reforms of Oxford in the mid-19th century, there was a crackdown on JCR activities, with Corpus Christi going as far as to disband its JCR in 1852. In 1868 New College moved to dissolve its JCR after a particularly egregious incident. An alternative solution was put forward by Alfred Robinson, a tutor at the college, which saw the JCR come under college oversight and, by including membership in

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3172-477: The representative bodies for postgraduate students are called "graduate common rooms" or "GCRs". At some graduate colleges such as Wolfson , St. Cross and Linacre College , students and fellows share a single common room. The JCR and MCR presidents of all affiliated Oxford common rooms, in addition to their OUSU reps, are automatically voting members of OUSU's governing council, which meets fortnightly during term to decide on virtually all aspects of OUSU's policy.

3233-423: The requirements placed on students' unions by the 1994 act. Similar to many university-level students' unions , all but two of the seventeen colleges at Durham have at least one paid sabbatical officer for their JCR (or equivalent), and some have more. A framework for senior common rooms is under development as of July 2022. Durham Students' Union 's Assembly includes a representative from each college as well as

3294-547: The residential college model was adopted in 2003 by all of Milan universities, according to a joint program developed in collaboration with several private and public institutions, such as Microsoft and the Lombardy Region, at the Collegio di Milano. In South Korea , the residential college system was first adopted by MIRAE campus of Yonsei University in 2007 and later extended to Songdo campus in 2013. Due to

3355-502: The residential colleges. Another point of variance is whether colleges are multi-disciplinary (as at Oxford and Cambridge) or focused on certain subject areas such as at Fordham University , which has dedicated residential colleges (Integrated Learning Communities) for upperclass students for various themes including global business and science, as well as separate first year residential colleges, including one for students considering pre-med or science majors. The primary difference between

3416-409: The role of an "MCR". Lancaster has a students' union which co-ordinates activities between the different colleges, and the JCR and GSA executives are considered to be standing committees of the union council. Halls at the University of Bristol have student-run junior common rooms to organise social events and represent students in the residence. The JCR is the committee rather than the student body as

3477-538: The students arose. Prior to this, the room had generally been administered by the 'amalgamated clubs' – the college's sport societies – sometimes through a JCR committee formed by these societies, sometimes simply through a JCR secretary. At Magdalene , the JCR committee was appointed by the tutors rather than by students until the late 1950s, while at Caius the previous year's committee ('the Gargoyles') appointed their successors until 1963. The last college to move from

3538-401: The university's estates department of removing senior common room space from college control – refurbishing these as teaching rooms or putting them on the central booking system, so SCR members cannot just "drop in". The term "JCR", although intended to refer to all junior members of a college, is often used to refer to elected members of each college's JCR executive. Each JCR executive organises

3599-491: The use of members. SCRs typically have a president, an academic member of the body who deals with higher-level administrative matters pertaining to the SCR, such as inviting proposed visiting fellows to the body and identifying invited lecturers to any particular college event. SCRs are typically characterised by a copious provision of coffee, newspapers, and moderately informal space for academics to think and discuss ideas. Following

3660-422: The use of these groups, and at some universities has only this meaning. At the University of Cambridge, the term combination room (e.g., "junior combination room") is also used, with the same abbreviations. Common rooms are found at almost all collegiate universities and in halls at a few non-collegiate universities. Student common rooms may be classified as students' unions under the Education Act 1994 . Until

3721-438: The warden, deputy warden and assistant wardens. The National University of Singapore has elected junior common room committees in its halls of residence, as well as senior common room committees. The JCR and SCR work together to plan events and the JCR also represents the students in the hall to the university administration, the university-wide students' union, and to JCRs in other halls. At Harvard College , each house has

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