Oxford University

Oxford University is an English autonomous institution of higher learning. It’s located in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, the UK. Education here is solid, very prestigious and of high quality. Among the famous graduates of this alma mater are Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Bill Clinton, Stephen Hawking, J.R.R. Tolkien, Hugh Grant and many others prominent people who made history.
The University of Oxford is a unique educational institution with a very impressive history and dynamic presence. It is one of the oldest universities in the world. More than 600 years it has given the best education in Europe. The history started in 1096 and since that time it’s held the leading position in the ranking among best world educational institutions.
Today it’s considered to be one of the most innovative universities in the world. It’s at the forefront of a wide range of academic disciplines, including medical sciences; mathematical, physical and life sciences; humanities; and social sciences.
The University indeed consists of one central University, 39 Colleges and 6 permanent Private halls which give education according to their individual educational programmes. They are related to the University in a federal system. More than 22,000 students study here and almost half of them are foreigners from 140 countries of the world. So it’s truly international alma mater.
The organization of studies is unusual in Oxford. Undergraduate studies are organized as a system of small-group tutorials at the Colleges. Main forms of studies here are classes, lectures, seminars and laboratory work. Postgraduate studies are held mostly at the central University.
Oxford University doesn’t have one main campus, all its buildings and some facilities are scattered throughout the city. To visit University offices students should wear traditional academic dress. The oldest world’s university museum is just here – in Oxford. What is more, it has the largest university press center in the world and the biggest library in the country.
Thousands of students in the world dream about studying in Oxford. But it’s not so easy to get here. Only the most prospective students can apply through the UCAS application system.
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two English ancient universities share many common features and are jointly referred to as Oxbridge. Both are ranked among the most prestigious universities in the world.
The university is made up of thirty-nine semi-autonomous constituent colleges, five permanent private halls, and a range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions.^[13] All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. All students are members of a college. It does not have a main campus, and 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 predominantly centrally.
Oxford operates the world's oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system nationwide. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2019, the university had a total income of £2.45 billion, of which £624.8 million was from research grants and contracts.
Oxford has educated a wide range of notable alumni, including 30 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 studied, worked, or held visiting fellowships at the University of Oxford, while its alumni have won 160 Olympic medals. Oxford is the home of numerous scholarships, including the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the oldest international graduate scholarship programmes.
The University of Oxford's foundation date is unknown. It is known that teaching at Oxford existed in some form as early as 1096, but it is unclear when the university came into being. The 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 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 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 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, 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 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.