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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. 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 position of Boden Professor of Sanskrit was established in 1832 with money bequeathed to the university by Joseph Boden, a retired soldier who had worked for the East India Company. He wanted a Sanskrit professor to assist in converting British India to Christianity. The first two professors were elected by Oxford graduates; the 1860 election, in particular, was hotly contested. Reforms of Oxford implemented in 1882 removed all mention of Boden's original purpose, removed the power to elect the professor from graduates, and gave the holder of the professorship a fellowship at Balliol College (pictured). To date, Sir Monier Monier-Williams (professor 1860–99) has held the chair for the longest, although a deputy carried out his teaching duties for the last 11 years of his life. The current holder (as of 2014), Christopher Minkowski, was appointed in 2005 and is the eighth Boden professor. It is the only remaining Sanskrit professorship in the United Kingdom. (Full article...)

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Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. As of 2013, she is the only woman to have held either post. Born in Grantham in Lincolnshire, England, she read chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford and later trained as a barrister. She won a seat in the 1959 general election, as MP for Finchley. When Edward Heath formed a government in 1970, he appointed Thatcher Secretary of State for Education and Science. In 1975, she became leader of the Conservative Party. At the 1979 general election she became Britain's first female Prime Minister, determined to reverse what she perceived as a precipitate national decline. Amid a recession and high unemployment, Thatcher's popularity decreased, though economic recovery and the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support and she was re-elected in 1983 and in 1987. Her tough-talking rhetoric gained her the nickname the "Iron Lady". She resigned as Prime Minister in November 1990 after Michael Heseltine's challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party. (more...)

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Lincoln College was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln, as a "little college of true students of theology". After some early financial problems, another Bishop of Lincoln, Thomas Rotherham, effectively refounded the college in 1478. It is situated in the centre of the city on Turl Street and adjoins Brasenose College (with which it has a long-standing rivalry) at the rear. The college buildings include the 18th-century All Saints Church which has been converted into a library. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner said that Lincoln preserves "more of the character of a 15th century college than any other in Oxford". Unlike many other colleges, there are no modern buildings on the main site. There are about 580 students (undergraduates and postgraduates). The Rector of the college is the English literature academic Henry Woudhuysen, appointed in 2012. The Methodist leader John Wesley was a Fellow of Lincoln in the 18th century. Former students of the college include the novelist John le Carré, the actress Emily Mortimer, the cartoonist "Dr Seuss" and the Australian politician Peter Durack. (Full article...)

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Credit: Hans Holbein the Younger

Thomas More, who studied at Canterbury College, Oxford, was a leading counsellor to Henry VIII and served as High Steward of the University. He was imprisoned and beheaded in 1535 after he had fallen out of favour with the king over his refusal to sign the Act of Supremacy 1534.

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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?

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“

To the University of Oxford I acknowledge no obligation; and she will as cheerfully renounce me for a son, as I am willing to disclaim her for a mother. I spent fourteen months at Magdalen College: they proved the fourteen months the most idle and unprofitable of my whole life.

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— Edward Gibbon

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Selected panorama

Credit: Kunal Mehta

The Old Building Quadrangle of Hertford College incorporates the lodge, library, chapel, hall, bursary and other administrative buildings. It is the only Hertford quadrangle to have a lawn in the centre, in the traditional college style.

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