Scholarships and Financial Support

There are many opportunities for students at Oxford to receive financial help during their studies. The Oxford Opportunity Bursaries, introduced in 2006, are university-wide means-based bursaries available to any British undergraduate. With a total possible grant of £10,235 over a 3-year degree, it is the most generous bursary scheme offered by any British university.[17] In addition, individual colleges also offer bursaries and funds to help their students. For graduate study, there are many scholarships attached to the University, available to students from all sorts of backgrounds, from the famous Rhodes Scholarships to the new Weidenfeld Scholarships.[18] In October 2007, it was announced that Oxford would be launching a fund-raising campaign with a goal in excess of £1 billion. Of the money raised, approximately one quarter is expected to go towards student financial support.[19]

The Ashmolean is the oldest museum in Britain

Students successful in early examinations are rewarded by their colleges with scholarships and exhibitions, normally the result of a long-standing endowment, although when tuition fees were first abolished, the amounts of money available became purely nominal. Scholars, and exhibitioners in some colleges, are entitled to wear a more voluminous undergraduate gown; "commoners" (originally those who had to pay for their "commons", or food and lodging) being restricted to a short, sleeveless garment. The term "scholar" in relation to Oxbridge, therefore, had a specific meaning as well as the more general meaning of someone of outstanding academic ability. In previous times, there were "noblemen commoners" and "gentlemen commoners", but these ranks were abolished in the 19th century. "Closed" scholarships, which were accessible only to candidates who fitted specific conditions such as coming from specific schools, exist now only in name.

Until 1866 one had to belong to the Church of England to receive the BA degree from Oxford, and "dissenters" were only permitted to receive the MA in 1871. Knowledge of Ancient Greek was required until 1920, and Latin until 1960. Women were admitted to degrees in 1920.

Collections

Libraries

Oxford’s central research library is the Bodleian, founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1598 and opened in 1602[20]. With over 8 million volumes housed on 117 miles of shelving, it is the second-largest library in the UK, after the British Library. It is a legal deposit library, which means that it is entitled to request a free copy of every book published in the UK. As such, its collection is growing at a rate of over three miles (five kilometres) of shelving every year.[21] Its main central site consists of the Radcliffe Camera, the Old Schools Quadrangle, the Clarendon Building, and the New Bodleian Building. A tunnel underneath Broad Street connects the buildings. There are plans to build a new book depository in Osney Mead,[22] and to remodel the New Bodleian building[23] to better showcase the library’s various treasures (which include a Shakespeare First Folio and a Gutenberg Bible) as well as temporary exhibitions. Several other libraries, such as the Radcliffe Science Library and the Oriental Institute Library, also fall within the Bodleian Group’s remit.

The Radcliffe Camera, built 1737-1749,

holds books from the Bodleian Library's

English and History collections

As well as the Bodleian, there are a number of other specialised libraries in Oxford, such as the Sackler Library which holds classical collections. In addition, most academic departments maintain their own library, as do all colleges. The University’s entire collection is catalogued by the Oxford Libraries Information System, though with such a huge collection, this is an ongoing task.[24] Oxford University Library Services, the head of which is Bodley’s Librarian, is the governing administrative body responsible for libraries in Oxford. The Bodleian is currently engaged in a mass-digitisation project with Google.[25][26]

Museums

Oxford maintains a number of museums and galleries in addition to its libraries. The Ashmolean Museum, founded in 1683, is the oldest museum in the UK, and the oldest university museum in the world.[27] It holds significant collections of art and archaeology, including works by Michelangelo, Leonardo, Turner, and Picasso, as well as treasures such as the Parian Marble and the Alfred Jewel. The Ashmolean is currently undertaking a £49m redevelopment[28] which will double the display space as well as provide new facilities.

The Museum of Natural History holds the University’s anatomical and natural history specimens. It is housed in a large neo-Gothic building on Parks Road, in the University’s Science Area.[29][30] Among its collection are the skeletons of a Tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops, and the most complete remains of a dodo found anywhere in the world. It also hosts the Simonyi Professorship of the Public Understanding of Science, currently held by Richard Dawkins.

Pitt Rivers Museum interior

Adjoining the Museum of Natural History is the Pitt Rivers Museum, founded in 1884, which displays the University’s archaeological and anthropological collections, currently holding over 500,000 items. It recently built a new research annexe; its staff have been involved with the teaching of anthropology at Oxford since its foundation, when as part of his donation General Augustus Pitt Rivers stipulated that the University establish a lectureship in anthropology

Autumn in the Walled Garden of the Botanic Garden

The Museum of the History of Science is housed on Broad St in the world’s oldest-surviving purpose-built museum building.[31] It contains 15,000 artifacts, from antiquity to the 20th century, representing almost all aspects of the history of science. In the Faculty of Music on St Aldate's is the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, a collection mostly comprising of instruments from Western classical music, from the medieval period onwards. The Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in the UK, and the third-oldest scientific garden in the world. It contains representatives from over 90% of the world’s higher plant families. Christ Church Picture Gallery holds a collection of over 200 old master paintings.

Reputation

In the subject tables of the Times Good University Guide, Oxford's Physiological Sciences course is ranked first of 48 'Anatomy and Physiology' courses. Fine Art, Business Studies, Materials technology, Middle Eastern and African Studies, Music, Philosophy, and Politics, are also first and Education and Linguistics share first with Cambridge. Oxford comes second after Cambridge in a further seventeen subjects, and second after Durham in English. The University then takes three third-places and an equal-third, as well as a fourth, fifth, and equal-sixth place in one subject each

In the Guardian's subject tables for institutions in tariff-band 6 (universities whose prospective students are expected to score 400 or more tariff points) Oxford took first place for Anatomy and Physiology, Anthropology, Biosciences, Business and Management Studies, Earth and Marine Sciences, Economics, Law, Materials and Mineral Engineering, Modern Languages, Music, Politics, Psychology, and Sociology. Oxford came second to Cambridge in Archaeology, Classics, English, History, History of Art, Mathematics, Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies. Oxford came second to Aberdeen in General Engineering, and third in Fine Art, General Engineering and Physics; fourth place in Chemistry and Medicine; sixth place in Computer Science and IT.

Oxford is one of four UK universities that belong to the Coimbra Group, one of four UK universities that belong to the League of European Research Universities, and one of three UK universities that belong to both. It is the only UK university to belong to the Europaeum group.

Notable alumni and academics

Main article: List of University of Oxford people

There are many famous Oxonians, as alumni of the University are known:

25 British Prime Ministers have attended Oxford (including William Gladstone, Herbert Asquith, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair).[51] At least 25 other international leaders have been educated at Oxford.[52] This number includes King Harald V of Norway,[53] King Abdullah II of Jordan,[52] three Prime Ministers of Australia (John Gorton, Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke)[54][55][56] two Prime Ministers of India (Manmohan Singh and Indira Gandhi)[52][57] Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan,[52] Norman Washington Manley (Chief Minister of Jamaica)[58], and Bill Clinton, the first American President to attend Oxford.[52][59] The Burmese democracy activist and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was a student of St Hugh's College.[60] Including Aung San Suu Kyi, 47 Nobel prize winners have studied or taught at Oxford.[52]

Oxford has also produced at least 12 saints and 20 Archbishops of Canterbury, including the current incumbent Rowan Williams (who studied at Wadham College and was later a Canon Professor at Christ Church.[52] At least nine Olympic medal winners have academic connections with the university, including Sir Matthew Pinsent, quadruple gold medallist rower.[52][61] T. E. Lawrence was a student at Jesus College,[62] while other illustrious members have ranged from the explorer, courtier, and man of letters Sir Walter Raleigh (who attended Oriel College, though left without taking a degree) to the media magnate Rupert Murdoch.[64] The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, studied at Christ Church and was elected a fellow of Lincoln College.[65]

Amongst the long list of writers associated with Oxford are Evelyn Waugh,[66] Lewis Carroll,[67] Aldous Huxley,[68] Oscar Wilde,[69] C.S. Lewis,[70] J.R.R. Tolkien,[71] Graham Greene,[72] Phillip Pullman,[52] Vikram Seth[52] and Plum Sykes,[73] the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley,[74] John Donne,[75] A. E. Housman,[76] W. H. Auden,[77] and Philip Larkin,[78] and Poets Laureate Thomas Warton,[79] Henry James Pye,[80] Robert Southey,[81] Robert Bridges,[82] Cecil Day-Lewis,[83] Sir John Betjeman,[84] and Andrew Motion.[85]

Some contemporary scientists include Stephen Hawking,[52] Richard Dawkins[86] and Nobel prize-winner Anthony James Leggett,[87] and Tim Berners-Lee,[52] co-inventor of the World Wide Web.

Actors Hugh Grant,[88] Kate Beckinsale,[88] Dudley Moore,[89] Michael Palin,[52] and Terry Jones[90] were undergraduates at the University, as were Oscar winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck[52] and film-maker Ken Loach.[91]. Sports. Imran Khan also studied at Oxford.

More complete information on famous senior and junior members of the University can be found in the individual college articles (an individual may be associated with two or more colleges, as an undergraduate, postgraduate, and/or member of staff).

Affiliates and other institutions

Well-known organisations and institutions officially connected with the University include:

Departments

See: Category:Departments of the University of Oxford

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 987