Editing University of Oxford (section)

=== Scholarships and financial support ===
[[File:Rhodes House Oxford 20040909.jpg|right|thumb|[[Rhodes House]] is home to the awarding body for [[Rhodes Scholarship]]s, often considered the world's most prestigious scholarship.]]
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. 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 [[Rhodes Scholarship]]s to the relatively new Weidenfeld Scholarships.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Oxford targets bright young things of eastern Europe |work=The Guardian |location=UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/mar/22/highereducation.internationaleducationnews |date=22 March 2007 |access-date=9 October 2007 |first=Jessica |last=Shepherd |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414051743/http://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/mar/22/highereducation.internationaleducationnews |archive-date=14 April 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref> Oxford also offers the [[Clarendon Fund|Clarendon Scholarship]] which is open to graduate applicants of all nationalities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/informationforapplicants/eligibility/ |title=Eligibility criteria, Clarendon Fund Scholarships |publisher=Clarendon.ox.ac.uk |access-date=11 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150702/http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/informationforapplicants/eligibility/ |archive-date=13 April 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Clarendon Scholarship is principally funded by [[Oxford University Press]] in association with colleges and other partnership awards.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 September 2011 |title=History of the Clarendon Fund |url=http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/about/history/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150925/http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/about/history/ |archive-date=13 April 2014 |access-date=11 April 2014 |website=Clarendon Fund Scholarships |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-AU |publication-place=[[Oxford]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Partnership awards |url=http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/about/partnership/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413150734/http://www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk/about/partnership/ |archive-date=13 April 2014 |access-date=11 April 2014 |website=Clarendon Fund Scholarships |publisher=University of Oxford |language=en-GB |publication-place=[[Oxford]]}}</ref> In 2016, Oxford University announced that it is to run its first free online economics course as part of a "[[massive open online course]]" (MOOC) scheme, in partnership with a US online university network.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37975359 |title=Oxford University to launch first online 'Mooc' course |work=BBC News |date=15 November 2016 |access-date=21 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121081125/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37975359 |archive-date=21 November 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> The course available is called 'From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development'.

Students successful in early examinations are rewarded by their colleges with scholarships and [[exhibition (scholarship)|exhibitions]], normally the result of a long-standing endowment, although since the introduction of tuition fees the amounts of money available are 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) are restricted to a short, sleeveless garment. The term "scholar" in relation to Oxford therefore has 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, available only to candidates who fitted specific conditions such as coming from specific schools, were abolished in the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name="Crook">{{cite book |last=Crook |first=J Mordaunt |author-link=J. Mordaunt Crook |year=2008 |title=Brasenose: The Biography of an Oxford College |page=413 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-954486-8}}</ref>