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The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in continuous operation. It grew rapidly from 1167, when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk, some Oxford academics fled northeast to Cambridge, where, 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 is made up of 43 constituent colleges, consisting of 36 semi-autonomous colleges, four permanent private halls and three societies (colleges that are departments of the university, without their own royal charter), and a range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions. Each college is a self-governing institution within the university, controlling its own membership and having its own internal structure and activities. All students are members of a college. The university does not have a main campus, but its buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre. Undergraduate teaching at Oxford consists of lectures, small-group tutorials at the colleges and halls, seminars, laboratory work and occasionally further tutorials provided by the central university faculties and departments. Postgraduate teaching is provided in a predominantly centralised fashion.

Oxford operates the Ashmolean Museum, the world's oldest university museum; Oxford University Press, the largest university press in the world; and the largest academic library system nationwide. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2023, the university had a total consolidated income of £2.92 billion, of which £789 million was from research grants and contracts.

Oxford has educated a wide range of notable alumni, including 31 prime ministers of the United Kingdom and many heads of state and government around the world. As of October 2022,^[update] 73 Nobel Prize laureates, 4 Fields Medalists, and 6 Turing Award winners have matriculated, worked, or held visiting fellowships at the University of Oxford, while its alumni have won 160 Olympic medals. Oxford is the home of numerous scholarships, including the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the oldest international graduate scholarship programmes. (Full article...)

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The election in 1860 for the position of Boden Professor of Sanskrit was a hotly contested affair between two rival candidates offering different approaches to Sanskrit scholarship: Monier Williams (pictured), an Oxford-educated Englishman, and Max Müller, a German-born lecturer specialising in comparative philology, the science of language. Both men battled for the votes of the electorate (the Convocation of the university) through manifestos and newspaper correspondence. The election came at a time of public debate about Britain's role in India particularly after the Indian Mutiny of 1857–58. Although generally regarded as the superior to Williams in scholarship, Müller had the double disadvantage (in the eyes of some) of being German and having liberal Christian views. At the end of the hard-fought campaign, Williams won by a majority of over 230 votes, and held the chair until his death in 1899. Müller, although deeply disappointed by his defeat, remained in Oxford for the rest of his career, but never taught Sanskrit there. (Full article...)

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Sir William Blackstone (1723–1780) was a British jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the Commentaries on the Laws of England. Born into a middle class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School and Pembroke College, Oxford. He became a Fellow of All Souls, Oxford and was later called to the Bar. Following a slow start to his career as a barrister, Blackstone became heavily involved in university administration. On 3 July 1753 he formally gave up his practice as a barrister and embarked on a series of lectures on English law, the first of their kind, which were massively successful. Blackstone was the first Vinerian Professor of English Law, became a successful barrister and Tory Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Hindon. In 1766 he published the first volume of Commentaries on the Laws of England, considered his magnum opus. After repeated failures, he successfully gained appointment to the judiciary as a Justice of the Court of King's Bench in 1770, leaving to become a Justice of the Common Pleas later the same year. He remained in this position until his death, on 14 February 1780. (more...)

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University College, founded by William of Durham in 1249, is one of the oldest of the Oxford colleges. Claims that it was founded by King Alfred the Great in 872 are no longer taken seriously by historians. It is one of the largest colleges in terms of student numbers, with about 420 undergraduates and 150 postgraduates. Univ, as it is generally known, has its main entrance on High Street, between Merton Street and Magpie Lane. The medieval buildings were replaced by the main quadrangle in the 17th century, after delays caused by the English Civil War. The Radcliffe Quadrangle was added in 1719. Women have been admitted as students since 1979. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley studied at the college but was expelled for writing The Necessity of Atheism; he is now commemorated by the Shelley Memorial. Two British prime ministers, Clement Attlee (student) and Harold Wilson (fellow) were members of the college, as were the American president Bill Clinton and the Australian prime minister Bob Hawke. Other alumni include the scientist Stephen Hawking, the writer C. S. Lewis and the poet Andrew Motion. (Full article...)

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Credit: Godot13

The Codrington Library of All Souls College, named after Christopher Codrington and completed in 1751

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Did you know

Articles from Wikipedia's "Did You Know" archives about the university and people associated with it:

... that Cheshire landowner Rowland Egerton-Warburton (pictured) arranged for his house, Arley Hall, to be designed in Tudor style while the chapel was designed in Gothic style?
... that Herbert Armitage James, who was headmaster of Rugby School for 14 years, had one of the best stamp collections in England?
... that Marrack Goulding, a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, was Warden of St Antony's College from 1997 to 2006?
... that Clive Ponting was found not guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act by a jury even after the judge, Sir Anthony McCowan, summed up strongly in favour of the prosecution?
... that Ion Calvocoressi won an immediate Military Cross in Libya in 1942, and was married to the sister of Ludovic Kennedy for over 60 years?