Editing University of Oxford (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Timeline of Oxford}}
[[File:Mob Quad from Chapel Tower.jpg|thumb|[[Merton College, Oxford|Merton College]]'s [[Mob Quad]], the oldest [[Quadrangle (architecture)|quadrangle]] of the university, constructed between 1288 and 1378]]
[[File:John Speed's map of Oxford, 1605..jpg|thumb|In 1605, Oxford was a walled city with several colleges outside the city walls (north is at the bottom).]]

=== Founding ===
[[File:Oxford - Balliol College - geograph.org.uk - 1329613.jpg|thumb|[[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]], one of Oxford's oldest colleges]]
The University of Oxford's foundation date is unknown.<ref name="Preface">{{Cite web |title=Preface: Constitution and Statute-making Powers of the University |url=https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/legislation/preface-constitution-and-statute-making-powers-of-the-university |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414213449/https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/legislation/preface-constitution-and-statute-making-powers-of-the-university |archive-date=14 April 2024 |access-date=4 January 2014 |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=[[Oxford]]}}</ref> In the 14th century, the historian [[Ranulf Higden]] wrote that the university was founded in the 10th century by [[Alfred the Great]], but this story is apocryphal.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Firth |first=Matthew |date=2024 |title=What's in a Name? Tracing the Origins of Alfred's 'the Great' |journal=English Historical Review |volume=139 |issue=596 |pages=1–32 |doi-access=free |doi=10.1093/ehr/ceae078 |issn=1477-4534 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="OxHist"/> 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]].<ref name="OxHist"/><!-- Note it is unclear whether the King ordered them to leave, or if Paris expelled foreigners. Some dispute that such an event even happened, or if it did, suggest it didn't affect much. Better analysis and citation of this is needed.--> 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 (education)|chancellor]] from at least 1201, and the masters were recognised as a ''universitas'' or corporation in 1231.<ref name="OxHist"/><ref name="Early schools">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AkJO3TAxMtwC |title=The History of the University of Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-19-951011-5 |last=Hackett |first=M. B. |editor-last=Catto |editor-first=J. I. |volume=I: The Early Oxford Schools |page=49 |chapter=2 The University as a Corporate Body |access-date=14 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927195431/https://books.google.com/books?id=AkJO3TAxMtwC |archive-date=27 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> The university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King [[Henry III of England|Henry III]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ballard |first1=Adolphus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Qc2l3vpLagC&pg=PA222 |title=British Borough Charters 1216–1307 |last2=Tait |first2=James |date=31 October 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01034-4 |page=222 |language=la |access-date=13 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307161615/https://books.google.com/books?id=2Qc2l3vpLagC&pg=PA222 |archive-date=7 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><!-- Please try to find a better reference than this. --> After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to [[Cambridge]], later forming the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref name="Early records"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Davies |first=Mark |date=4 November 2010 |title='To lick a Lord and thrash a cad': Oxford 'Town & Gown' |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9158000/9158705.stm |url-status=live |access-date=3 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104002457/http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9158000/9158705.stm |archive-date=4 January 2014}}</ref>

The students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two '[[Nation (university)|nations]]', representing the North (''northerners'' or ''Boreales'', who included the [[English people]] from north of the [[River Trent]] and the [[Scots people|Scots]]) and the South (''southerners'' or ''Australes'', who included English people from south of the Trent, the Irish and the [[Welsh people|Welsh]]).<ref name="British History">{{Cite book |title=A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3: The University of Oxford |date=1954 |publisher=Victoria County History |editor-last=Salter |editor-first=H. E. |location=London |pages=1–38 |chapter=The University of Oxford |access-date=15 January 2014 |editor-last2=Lobel |editor-first2=Mary D. |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp1-38 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116132507/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63862 |archive-date=16 January 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rashdall |first=H. |title=Universities of Europe |pages=iii, 55–60}}</ref> In later centuries, geographical origins continued to influence many students' affiliations when membership of a [[Colleges of the University of Oxford|college]] or [[academic halls of the University of Oxford|hall]] became customary at Oxford. In addition, members of many [[religious order]]s, including [[Dominican Order|Dominicans]], [[Franciscan]]s, [[Carmelites]], and [[Augustinians]], settled in Oxford in the mid-13th century, gained influence and maintained houses or halls for students.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvp|Brooke|Highfield|1988}}</ref> 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, Oxford|University College]],<ref name="ReferenceA" /> and [[John I de Balliol|John Balliol]], father of a future [[John of Scotland|King of Scots]]; [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College]] bears his name.<ref name="British History"/> Another founder, [[Walter de Merton]], a [[Lord Chancellor]] of England and afterwards [[Bishop of Rochester]], devised a series of regulations for college life;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Percival |first=Edward France |title=The Foundation Statutes of Merton College, Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Henry Julian |title=Merton College, Oxford |date=1906}}</ref> [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton College]] thereby became the model for such establishments at Oxford,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Martin |first1=G. H. |title=A history of Merton College, Oxford |last2=Highfield |first2=J. R. L. |date=1997}}</ref> as well as at Cambridge. Thereafter, an increasing number of students lived in colleges rather than in halls and religious houses.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In 1333–1334, an attempt by some dissatisfied Oxford scholars to found a new [[University of Stamford|university at Stamford, Lincolnshire]], was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King [[Edward III]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKisack |first=May |title=The Fourteenth Century 1307–1399 |date=1963 |series=Oxford History of England |page=501}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boorstin |first=Daniel J. |url=http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/learn/99AHLstuff.htm/Assignments.htm |title=The Americans; the Colonial Experience |date=1958 |publisher=Vintage |pages=[http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/learn/99AHLstuff.htm/Boorstin.htm 171–184] |author-link=Daniel J. Boorstin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624022409/http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/learn/99AHLstuff.htm/Boorstin.htm |archive-date=24 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Brooke|Highfield|1988|page=56}}</ref>

=== Renaissance period ===
[[File:ChristChurchOxfordEngraving1742.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|An engraving of [[Christ Church, Oxford]], 1742]]
The new learning of the [[Renaissance]] greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onwards. Among university scholars of the period were [[William Grocyn]], who contributed to the revival of [[Greek language]] studies,<ref>{{cite web |title=William Grocyn {{!}} English educator |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Grocyn |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |access-date=11 January 2023 |language=en |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111022954/https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Grocyn |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[John Colet]], the noted [[Biblical Theology|biblical scholar]].<ref>{{cite web |title=John Colet {{!}} English theologian and educator |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Colet |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |access-date=11 January 2023 |language=en |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111022954/https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Colet |url-status=live }}</ref>

With the [[English Reformation]] and the breaking of communion with the [[Roman Catholic Church]], [[recusant]] scholars from Oxford fled to continental Europe, settling especially at the [[University of Douai]].<ref>{{Cite book|editor-last1=Moody|editor-first1=Theodore William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8M1p3ySwI4C&pg=PA618|title=Early Modern Ireland, 1534–1691|editor-last2=Martin|editor-first2=Francis Xavier|editor-last3=Byrne|editor-first3=Francis John|date=1991|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-820242-4|language=en |page=618}}</ref> The method of teaching at Oxford was transformed from the medieval [[Scholasticism|scholastic method]] to Renaissance education, although institutions associated with the university suffered losses of land and revenues. As a centre of learning and scholarship, Oxford's reputation declined in the [[Age of Enlightenment]]; enrolments fell and teaching was neglected.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oxford University {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/education/colleges-international/oxford-university |access-date=7 August 2023 |website=www.encyclopedia.com |archive-date=7 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807121833/https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/education/colleges-international/oxford-university |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1636, [[William Laud]], the chancellor and [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], codified the university's statutes.<ref>[https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/legislation/preface-constitution-and-statute-making-powers-of-the-university#collapse1380421/ Constitution and Statute-making Powers of the University]</ref> These, to a large extent, remained its governing regulations until the mid-19th century. Laud was also responsible for the granting of a charter securing privileges for the [[Oxford University Press|University Press]], and he made notable contributions to the [[Bodleian Library]], the main library of the university. From the beginnings of the [[Church of England]] as the [[established church]] until 1866, membership of the church was a requirement to graduate as a Bachelor of Arts, and "[[dissenter]]s" were only permitted to be promoted to Master of Arts starting in 1871.<ref>{{cite web |title=Universities Tests Act 1871 |publisher=UK Parliament |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/34-35/26 |access-date=30 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101193831/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/34-35/26 |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> The university was a centre of the [[Cavalier|Royalist]] party during the [[English Civil War]] (1642–1651), while the town favoured the opposing [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] cause.<ref>{{cite web|title=Civil War: Surrender of Oxford|url=http://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/civil_war.html|work=Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme|publisher=Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board|year=2013|access-date=30 December 2015|archive-date=30 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200530010654/http://www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/civil_war.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 
[[File:Templeofrosycross.png|alt=Emblem of the 17th-century English Invisible College|thumb|Emblem of the 17th-century English [[Invisible College]]]]
[[Wadham College]], founded in 1610, was the undergraduate college of Sir [[Christopher Wren]]. Wren was part of a group of experimental scientists at Oxford in the 1650s, the [[Oxford Philosophical Club]], which included [[Robert Boyle]] and [[Robert Hooke]]. This group, which has at times been linked with Boyle's "[[Invisible College]]", held regular meetings at Wadham under the guidance of the college's warden, [[John Wilkins]], and the group formed the nucleus that went on to found the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Invisible College (act. 1646–1647) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-95474 |access-date=21 February 2023 |year=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/95474}}</ref>

=== Modern period ===
==== Students ====
In 1827 a major review of the university's statutes, some over 500 years old, was conducted. Among the changes made at this time was the removal of the requirement that students swear an oath of enmity towards a certain [[Henry Symeonis]], who had murdered an Oxford student in the mid-13th century.<ref name="Millea">{{cite web |first=Alice|last=Millea| title=The persistence of tradition: the curious case of Henry Symeonis | website=Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library | date=13 December 2023 | url=https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/archivesandmanuscripts/2023/12/13/the-persistence-of-tradition-the-curious-case-of-henry-symeonis/ | ref={{sfnref|Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library|2023}} | access-date=13 January 2025}}</ref>

Before reforms in the early 19th century, the curriculum at Oxford was notoriously narrow and impractical. [[Spencer Walpole|Sir Spencer Walpole]], a historian of contemporary Great Britain and a senior government official, had not attended any university. He said, "Few medical men, few solicitors, few persons intended for commerce or trade, ever dreamed of passing through a university career." He quoted the Oxford University Commissioners in 1852 stating: "The education imparted at Oxford was not such as to conduce to the advancement in life of many persons, except those intended for the ministry."<ref>{{cite book|author=Sir Spencer Walpole|title=History of Twenty-Five Years: vol 4: 1870–1875|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQ4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA137|year=1903|pages=136–37|access-date=3 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304050530/https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQ4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA137|archive-date=4 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Nevertheless, Walpole argued:
{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100%; | Among the many deficiencies attending a university education there was, however, one good thing about it, and that was the education which the undergraduates gave themselves. It was impossible to collect some thousand or twelve hundred of the best young men in England, to give them the opportunity of making acquaintance with one another, and full liberty to live their lives in their own way, without evolving in the best among them, some admirable qualities of loyalty, independence, and self-control. If the average undergraduate carried from University little or no learning, which was of any service to him, he carried from it a knowledge of men and respect for his fellows and himself, a reverence for the past, a code of honour for the present, which could not but be serviceable. He had enjoyed opportunities... of intercourse with men, some of whom were certain to rise to the highest places in the Senate, in the Church, or at the Bar. He might have mixed with them in his sports, in his studies, and perhaps in his debating society; and any associations which he had this formed had been useful to him at the time, and might be a source of satisfaction to him in after life.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Walpole|first1=Spencer|url=http://archive.org/details/cu31924088010115|title=The history of twenty-five years|editor-last1=Lyall|editor-first1=Alfred Comyn|date=1904|publisher=Longmans, Green and Co.|volume=3: 1870–1875 |page=140}}</ref>|sign=|source=}}

Of the students who matriculated in 1840, 65% were sons of professionals (34% were Anglican ministers). After graduation, 87% became professionals (59% as Anglican clergy). Out of the students who matriculated in 1870, 59% were sons of professionals (25% were Anglican ministers). After graduation, 87% became professionals (42% as Anglican clergy).<ref>[[William D. Rubinstein]], "The social origins and career patterns of Oxford and Cambridge matriculants, 1840–1900." ''Historical Research'' 82.218 (2009): 715–730, data on pages 719 and 724.</ref><ref>For more details see Mark C. Curthoys, "Origins and Destinations: the social mobility of Oxford men and women" in Michael G. Brock and Mark C. Curthoys, eds. ''The History of the University of Oxford Volume 7: Nineteenth-Century'' (2000) part 2, pp 571–95.</ref>

M.&nbsp;C. Curthoys and H.&nbsp;S. Jones argue that the rise of organised sport was one of the most remarkable and distinctive features of the history of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was carried over from the athleticism prevalent at the public schools such as [[Eton College|Eton]], [[Winchester College|Winchester]], [[Shrewsbury School|Shrewsbury]], and [[Harrow School|Harrow]].<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1080/0046760950240403|title = Oxford athleticism, 1850-1914: A reappraisal|journal = History of Education|volume = 24|issue = 4|pages = 305–317|year = 1995|last1 = Curthoys|first1 = M. C.|last2 = Jones|first2 = H. S.|issn=0046-760X }}</ref>

All students, regardless of their chosen area of study, were required to spend (at least) their first year preparing for a first-year examination that was heavily focused on [[classical language]]s. Science students found this particularly burdensome and supported a separate science degree with [[Greek language]] study removed from their required courses. This concept of a Bachelor of Science had been adopted at other European universities ([[London University]] had implemented it in 1860) but an 1880 proposal at Oxford to replace the classical requirement with a modern language (like German or French) was unsuccessful. After considerable internal haggling over the structure of the arts curriculum, in 1886 the "natural science preliminary" was recognised as a qualifying part of the first year examination.<ref>{{Cite book|editor-last1=Brock|editor-first1=Michael G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3bDAWHbXgi4C&pg=PA355|title=The History of the University of Oxford: Nineteenth-Century Oxford, Volumes 6–7|editor-last2=Curthoys|editor-first2=Mark C.|date=1997|publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn=978-0-19-951016-0|language=en|page=355|access-date=7 February 2019|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927195459/https://books.google.com/books?id=3bDAWHbXgi4C&pg=PA355#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the start of 1914, the university housed about 3,000 undergraduates and around 100 postgraduate students. During the First World War, many undergraduates and fellows joined the armed forces. By 1918 virtually all fellows were in uniform, and the student population in residence was reduced to 12 per cent of the pre-war total.<ref name="Harrison-1994">{{cite book|title=History of the University of Oxford: Volume VIII: The Twentieth Century – Oxford Scholarship|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229742.001.0001|year=1994|isbn=978-0-19-822974-2|last1=Harrison|first1=Brian|last2=Aston|first2=Trevor Henry}}</ref> The [[iarchive:oxforduniversity00univuoft|University Roll of Service]] records that, in total, 14,792 members of the university served in the war, with 2,716 (18.36%) killed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Oxford university roll of service: University of Oxford: Free Download & Streaming|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforduniversity00univuoft|website=Internet Archive|access-date=10 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311003438/https://archive.org/details/oxforduniversity00univuoft|archive-date=11 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Not all the members of the university who served in the Great War were on the Allied side; there is a memorial to members of New College who served in the German armed forces, bearing the inscription, 'In memory of the men of this college who coming from a foreign land entered into the inheritance of this place and returning fought and died for their country in the war 1914–1918'. During the war years the university buildings became hospitals, cadet schools and military training camps.<ref name="Harrison-1994" />

==== Reforms ====
Two parliamentary commissions in 1852 issued recommendations for Oxford and Cambridge. [[Archibald Campbell Tait]], a former headmaster of Rugby School, was a key member of the Oxford Commission; he wanted Oxford to follow the German and Scottish model in which the professorship was paramount. The commission's report envisioned a centralised university run predominantly by professors and faculties, with a much stronger emphasis on research. The professional staff should be strengthened and better paid. For students, restrictions on entry should be dropped, and more opportunities given to poorer families. It called for an enlargement of the curriculum, with honours to be awarded in many new fields. Undergraduate scholarships should be open to all Britons. Graduate fellowships should be opened up to all members of the university. It recommended that fellows be released from an obligation for ordination. Students were to be allowed to save money by boarding in the city, instead of in a college.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sir Spencer Walpole|title=History of Twenty-Five Years: vol 4: 1870–1875|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQ4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA151|year=1903|pages=145–51|access-date=4 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305090139/https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQ4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA151|archive-date=5 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 4127167|title = Oxford and the Idea of a University in Nineteenth-Century Britain|journal = Oxford Review of Education|volume = 30|issue = 4|pages = 575–592|last1 = Goldman|first1 = Lawrence|year = 2004}}</ref>

The system of separate [[Honour Moderations|honour schools]] for different subjects began in 1802, with Mathematics and [[Literae Humaniores]].<ref name="boase" /> Schools of "Natural Sciences" and "Law, and Modern History" were added in 1853.<ref name="boase">{{cite book |pages=208–209 |last=Boase |first=Charles William |author-link=Charles William Boase |year=1887 |title=Oxford |edition=2nd |url=http://purl.ox.ac.uk/uuid/743404c6bb6c4b16880e9dfce4000622 |access-date=3 February 2013 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927195935/http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/N12449022.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1872, the last of these had split into "Jurisprudence" and "Modern History". Theology became the sixth honour school.<ref>{{Citation| title = The New Examination Statues | publisher = Clarendon Press | place = Oxford | year = 1872 | url = http://purl.ox.ac.uk/uuid/4a66e363bf9544a8b81e48fe1335e4f6| access-date =4 February 2013 }}</ref> In addition to these B.A. Honours degrees, the postgraduate [[Bachelor of Civil Law|Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.)]] was, and still is, offered.<ref>{{Citation| title = The New Examination Statues | publisher = Clarendon Press | place = Oxford | year = 1873 | url = http://purl.ox.ac.uk/uuid/0ccd63bb36204432baafdcd706508ea4| access-date =4 February 2013 }}</ref>

The mid-19th century saw the impact of the [[Oxford Movement]] (1833–1845), led among others by the future Cardinal [[John Henry Newman]]. Administrative reforms during the 19th century included the replacement of oral examinations with written entrance tests, greater tolerance for [[English Dissenters|religious dissent]], and the establishment of four women's colleges. Privy Council decisions in the 20th century - the abolition of compulsory daily worship, dissociation of the Regius Professorship of Hebrew from clerical status, diversion of colleges' theological bequests to other purposes - loosened the link with traditional belief and practice. Furthermore, although the university's emphasis had historically been on classical knowledge, its curriculum expanded during the 19th century to include scientific and medical studies.

The postgraduate degrees of Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Letters (renamed [[Master of Science]] and [[Master of Letters]] in the 1970s) were introduced in 1895, and the university began to award doctorates for research in 1900 with the [[Doctor of Letters]] and [[Doctor of Science]] degrees.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://newprairiepress.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1084&context=burgonsociety|journal=Transactions of the Burgon Society|volume= 10|year=2010| pages= 47–70|title=Togas gradui et facultati competentes: The Creation of New Doctoral Robes at Oxford, 1895–1920|author= Alan J. Ross}}</ref> Oxford was the first British university to institute a [[Doctor of Philosophy]] degree (abbreviated DPhil) in 1917; it was first awarded in 1919 to Lakshman Sarup of Balliol College.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/news/2021/december/new-building-named-after-dr-lakshman-sarup|title=New building named after Dr Lakshman Sarup|date= 14 December 2021|website=Balliol College|access-date=6 May 2025}}</ref>

=== Women's education ===
{{multiple image
| title = First women's colleges
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| image1 = Lady Margaret Hall (6148510434).jpg 
| caption1 = [[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]], founded in 1878
| image2 = Somerville College, Oxford - Main quad, summer.JPG 
| caption2 = [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]], founded in 1879
| image3 = St. Hugh's.jpg
| caption3 = [[St Hugh's College, Oxford|St Hugh's College]], founded in 1886
}}
{{see also|Delegacy for Women Students|First women admitted to degrees at the University of Oxford}}
The university passed a statute in 1875 allowing examinations for women at roughly undergraduate level;<ref name="Lannon">{{cite magazine|first=Frances|last=Lannon|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/404111.article|title=Her Oxford|magazine=Times Higher Education|date=30 October 2008|access-date=27 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191641/http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/404111.article|archive-date=2 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> for a brief period in the early 1900s, this allowed the "[[steamboat ladies]]" to receive ''[[ad eundem gradum|ad eundem]]'' degrees from the [[University of Dublin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trinitynews.ie/trinity-halls-steamboat-ladies/|title=Trinity Hall's Steamboat Ladies|publisher=Trinity news|date=14 March 2012|access-date=9 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212042531/http://trinitynews.ie/trinity-halls-steamboat-ladies/|archive-date=12 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 1878, the [[Association for the Education of Women]] (AEW) was formed, aiming for the eventual creation of a college for women in Oxford. Some of the more prominent members of the association were [[George Granville Bradley]], [[T. H. Green]] and [[Edward Stuart Talbot]]. Talbot insisted on a specifically [[Anglican]] institution, which was unacceptable to most of the other members. The two parties eventually split, and Talbot's group founded [[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]] in 1878, while T. H. Green founded the non-denominational [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]] in 1879.<ref>''Alden's Oxford Guide''. Oxford: Alden & Co., 1958; pp. 120–21</ref> Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville opened their doors to their first 21 students (12 at Somerville, 9 at Lady Margaret Hall) in 1879, who attended lectures in rooms above an Oxford baker's shop.<ref name="Lannon" /> There were also 25 women students living at home or with friends in 1879, a group which evolved into the Society of Oxford Home-Students and in 1952 into [[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's College]].<ref name="Our History"/><ref name="VCH St Anne's">{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp351-353|title=St. Anne's College|publisher=british-history.ac.uk|access-date=2 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002180544/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp351-353|archive-date=2 October 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

These first three societies for women were followed by [[St Hugh's College, Oxford|St Hugh's]] (1886)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/about-sthughs/history-of-the-college|title=History of the College|publisher=St Hugh's College, University of Oxford|access-date=14 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140618060830/http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/about-sthughs/history-of-the-college|archive-date=18 June 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[St Hilda's College, Oxford|St Hilda's]] (1893).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/index.php/history/histconst.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423094628/http://www.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk/index.php/history/histconst.html |archive-date=23 April 2012 |title=Constitutional History |publisher=St Hilda's College |access-date=25 March 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> All of these colleges later became coeducational, starting with [[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]] and [[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's]] in 1979,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/about-lmh/history-and-archives/college-timeline|title=College Timeline {{!}} Lady Margaret Hall|website=Lady Margaret Hall|language=en|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827215801/http://www.lmh.ox.ac.uk/about-lmh/history-and-archives/college-timeline|archive-date=27 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Our History">{{Cite web|url=http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/about/history|title=Our History|website=St Anne's College, Oxford |language=en|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428063923/http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/about/history|archive-date=28 April 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> and finishing with [[St Hilda's College, Oxford|St Hilda's]], which began to accept male students in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/women-at-oxford|title=Women at Oxford |website=University of Oxford |language=en|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507034832/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/women-at-oxford|archive-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In the early 20th century, Oxford and Cambridge were widely perceived to be bastions of [[male privilege]];<ref>{{cite web|first=Joyce S.|last=Pedersen|url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=453|title=Book review (No Distinction of Sex? Women in British Universities, 1870–1939)|publisher=H-Albion |website=H-Net Reviews |date=May 1996|access-date=14 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917151721/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=453|archive-date=17 September 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> however, the integration of women into Oxford moved forward during the First World War. In 1916 women were admitted as medical students on a par with men, and in 1917 the university accepted financial responsibility for women's examinations.<ref name="Harrison-1994" />

On 7 October 1920 women became eligible for admission as full members of the university and were given the right to take degrees.<ref>{{cite book|year=1965|title=Handbook to the University of Oxford|publisher=University of Oxford|page=43}}</ref> In 1927 the university's dons created a quota that limited the number of female students to a quarter that of men, a ruling which was not abolished until 1957.<ref name="Lannon" /> Additionally, during this period Oxford colleges were [[Single-sex education|single sex]], so the number of women was also limited by the capacity of the women's colleges to admit students. It was not until 1959 that the women's colleges were given full collegiate status.<ref name="St Anne's History">{{cite web |last=Smith |first=David |date=n.d. |title=St Anne's College: 1952 – 2012 |url=https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/St._Annes_History_Brochure_David_Smith.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406052535/https://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/St._Annes_History_Brochure_David_Smith.pdf |archive-date=6 April 2024 |archive-format=PDF |access-date=2 October 2018 |website=[[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's College]] |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=[[Oxford]] |quote="Only in 1959 did the five women's colleges acquire full collegiate status so that their councils became governing bodies and they were, like the men's colleges, fully self-governing."}}</ref>

In 1974, [[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose]], [[Jesus College, Oxford|Jesus]], [[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham]], [[Hertford College, Oxford|Hertford]] and [[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's]] became the first previously all-male colleges to admit women.<ref>{{cite web |date=29 July 1999 |title=Colleges mark anniversary of 'going mixed' |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1998-9/weekly/290799/news/story_3.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130428103218/http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1998-9/weekly/290799/news/story_3.htm |archive-date=28 April 2013 |access-date=12 March 2012 |website=University of Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Gazette]] |language=en-GB |publication-place=[[Oxford]]}}</ref><ref name="Women_at_Oxford">{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/introducing_oxford/women_at_oxford/index.html |title=Women at Oxford |publisher=University of Oxford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304201310/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/introducing_oxford/women_at_oxford/index.html |archive-date=4 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The majority of men's colleges accepted their first female students in 1979,<ref name="Women_at_Oxford" /> with [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]] following in 1980,<ref>{{cite book |last=Brockliss |first=Laurence |date=2016 |title=The University of Oxford: A History |page=573}}</ref> and [[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel]] becoming the last men's college to admit women in 1985.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/about-college/college-history|title=College History {{!}} Oriel College|date=26 November 2015|work=Oriel College|access-date=4 May 2018|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413053243/http://www.oriel.ox.ac.uk/about-college/college-history|archive-date=13 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of Oxford's graduate colleges were founded as coeducational establishments in the 20th century, with the exception of St Antony's, which was founded as a men's college in 1950 and began to accept women only in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/about-st-antonys/history|title=History {{!}} St Antony's College|website=sant.ox.ac.uk|date=3 December 2014 |language=en|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031441/https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/about-st-antonys/history|archive-date=1 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1988, 40% of undergraduates at Oxford were female;<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Jenifer|last=Hart|title=Women at Oxford since the Advent of Mixed Colleges|journal=Oxford Review of Education|volume=15|issue=3|pages=217–219|year=1989|doi=10.1080/0305498890150302 |jstor=1050413}}</ref> in 2016, 45% of the student population, and 47% of undergraduate students, were female.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/DetailTable?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no|title=University of Oxford Student Statistics: Detail Table|publisher=University of Oxford|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205183306/https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/DetailTable?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no|archive-date=5 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/student-numbers?wssl=1|title=Student numbers|access-date=5 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915101523/https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/student-numbers?wssl=1|archive-date=15 September 2017}}</ref>

In June 2017, Oxford announced that starting the following academic year, history students may choose to sit a take-home exam in some courses, with the intention that this will equalise rates of firsts awarded to women and men at Oxford.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Sian Griffiths|last2=Julie Henry|title=Oxford 'takeaway' exam to help women get firsts|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/oxford-takeaway-exam-to-help-women-get-firsts-0v0056k8l|access-date=13 June 2017|work=The Times|quote=History students will be able to sit a paper at home in an effort to close the gap with the number of men getting top degrees|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611171840/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/oxford-takeaway-exam-to-help-women-get-firsts-0v0056k8l|archive-date=11 June 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> That same summer, maths and computer science tests were extended by 15 minutes, in a bid to see if female student scores would improve.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Diver|first1=Tony|title=Oxford University gives women more time to pass exams|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/01/22/oxford-university-gives-women-time-pass-exams/|access-date=24 January 2018|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=22 January 2018|quote=Students taking maths and computer science examinations in the summer of 2017 were given an extra 15 minutes to complete their papers, after dons ruled that "female candidates might be more likely to be adversely affected by time pressure"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123231746/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/01/22/oxford-university-gives-women-time-pass-exams/|archive-date=23 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://qz.com/1188135/oxford-gave-female-students-more-time-to-take-tests-it-didnt-work/ |title=Oxford gave female students more time to take tests. It didn't work |date=24 January 2018 |access-date=24 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124220255/https://qz.com/1188135/oxford-gave-female-students-more-time-to-take-tests-it-didnt-work/ |archive-date=24 January 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The detective novel ''[[Gaudy Night]]'' by [[Dorothy L. Sayers]], herself one of the first women to gain an academic degree from Oxford, is largely set in the all-female [[List of fictional Oxford colleges|Shrewsbury College, Oxford]] (based on Sayers' own [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]]<ref>[http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3606/Dorothy-L-Sayers.html Somerville Stories – Dorothy L Sayers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005002943/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3606/Dorothy-L-Sayers.html |date=5 October 2013 }}, Somerville College, University of Oxford, UK.</ref>), and the issue of women's education is central to its plot. Social historian and Somerville College alumna [[Jane Robinson (historian)|Jane Robinson]]'s book ''Bluestockings: A Remarkable History of the First Women to Fight for an Education'' gives a very detailed and immersive account of this history.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://blue-stocking.org.uk/2017/03/09/a-conversation-with-jane-robinson-on-bluestockings/|title=A Conversation with Jane Robinson on Bluestockings|date=9 March 2017|work=Bluestocking Oxford|access-date=4 May 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504225627/https://blue-stocking.org.uk/2017/03/09/a-conversation-with-jane-robinson-on-bluestockings/|archive-date=4 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>