The University of Oxford has 43 colleges including three societies and four permanent private halls (PPHs) of religious foundation. The colleges and PPHs are autonomous self-governing corporations within the university.

These colleges not only are houses of residence, but also have substantial responsibility for teaching undergraduate students. Generally tutorials (one of the main methods of teaching in Oxford) and classes are the responsibility of colleges, while lectures, examinations, laboratories, and the central library are run by the university. Students normally have most of their tutorials in their own college, but often have a couple of modules taught at other colleges or even at faculties and departments. Most colleges take both graduates and undergraduates, but several are for graduates only.

Undergraduate and graduate students may name preferred colleges in their applications. For undergraduate students, an increasing number of departments practise reallocation to ensure that the ratios between potential students and subject places available at each college are as uniform as possible. For the Department of Physics, reallocation is done on a random basis after a shortlist of candidates is drawn upon and before candidates are invited for interviews at the university.

For graduate students, many colleges express a preference for candidates who plan to undertake research in an area of interest of one of its fellows. St Hugh's College, for example, states that it accepts graduate students in most subjects, principally those in the fields of interest of the fellows of the college.

A typical college consists of a hall for dining, a chapel, a library, a college bar, senior, middle (postgraduate), and junior common rooms, rooms for 200–400 undergraduates, and lodgings for the head of the college and other dons. College buildings range from medieval to modern, but most are made up of interlinked quadrangles or courtyards, with a porter's lodge controlling entry from the outside.

The first modern merger of colleges was in 2008, with Green College and Templeton College merging to form Green Templeton College. The number of PPHs also reduced when Greyfriars closed in 2008 and when St Benet's Hall closed in 2022. Reuben College, established in 2019, is the first new Oxbridge college since 1990, when Kellogg College was established. There is also a long-term plan to establish another new postgraduate college in conjunction with the redevelopment of Warneford Hospital in east Oxford, with a planning application lodged in August 2025.

History

The collegiate system arose because Oxford University came into existence through the gradual agglomeration of numerous independent institutions. Over the centuries several different types of college have emerged and disappeared.

Monastic halls The first academic houses were monastic halls. Of the dozens established during the 12th–15th centuries, none survived the Reformation. The modern Dominican permanent private hall of Blackfriars (1921) is a descendant of the original (1221), and is sometimes described as heir to the oldest tradition of teaching in Oxford.

Academic halls

As the university took shape, friction between the hundreds of students living where and how they pleased led to a decree that all undergraduates would have to reside in approved halls.

What eventually put an end to the medieval halls was the emergence of colleges. Often generously endowed and with permanent teaching staff, the colleges were originally the preserve of graduate students. However, once they began accepting fee-paying undergraduates in the 14th century, the halls' days were numbered. Of the hundreds of Aularian houses (from the Latin for "hall") that sprang up, only St Edmund Hall (c. 1225) remains.

Colleges The oldest colleges are University College, Balliol, and Merton, established between 1249 and 1264, although there is some dispute over the exact order and precisely when each began taking students. The fourth oldest college is Exeter, founded in 1314, and the fifth is Oriel, founded in 1326.

Women's colleges

Women entered the university in 1879, with the opening of Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville College, becoming members of the University (and thus eligible to receive degrees) in 1920. Other women's colleges before integration were St Anne's, St Hilda's and St Hugh's. In 1974 the first men's colleges to admit women were Brasenose, Hertford, Jesus, St Catherine's and Wadham. By 2008 all colleges had become mixed, although one of the Permanent Private Halls, St Benet's Hall, did not start to admit postgraduate women until Michaelmas term 2014 and women undergraduates until Michaelmas 2016.

Postgraduate and mature colleges Some colleges, such as Green Templeton, Kellogg, Linacre, Nuffield, Reuben, St Antony's, St Cross and Wolfson, admit only postgraduate students. All Souls admits only fellows. Harris Manchester admits only "mature students" with a minimum age of 21.

Societies Kellogg, Reuben and St Cross are the only Oxford colleges without a royal charter. They are officially societies of the university rather than independent colleges and are considered departments of the university for accounting purposes.

Private halls

The Oxford University Act 1854 and the university statute De aulis privatis (On private Halls) of 1855, allowed any Master of Arts aged at least 28 years to open a private hall after obtaining a licence to do so. One such was Charsley's Hall.William Geddie, Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 7 (1874), p. 174: "To these may be added Charsley's Hall, being a private hall under the mastership of WH Charsley, in virtue of a statute passed in 1854..."

Permanent private halls The Universities Tests Act 1871 opened all university degrees and positions to men who were not members of the Church of England (subject to safeguards for religious instruction and worship), which made it possible for Catholics and Non-conformists to open private halls.

The first Catholic private halls were Clarke's Hall (now Campion Hall), opened by the Jesuit Order in 1896 and Hunter Blair's Hall (later St Benet's Hall) opened by the Benedictine Order in 1899. In 1918, the university passed a statute to allow private halls which were not run for profit to become permanent private halls, and the two halls took their current names.

Map

List of colleges

College (with arms and scarf colours)Latin nameYear of foundationSister college at CambridgeHead of HouseTotal assetsFinancial endowmentAssets per studentNotes All Souls CollegeCollegium Omnium Animarum, Collegium Omnium Animarum Fidelium Defunctorum de Oxonia 1438Trinity HallSir John Vickers£546,604,000£501,226,00009056449£51,711,000Fellow-only. Balliol CollegeCollegium Balliolensis, Collegium de Balliolo 1263St John's CollegeSeamus Perry £147,546,000£123,435,00038534316040729£202,000 Brasenose CollegeAula regia et collegium aenei nasi, Collegium Aenei Nasi 1509Gonville and Caius CollegeJohn Bowers

Alyson King (principal-elect)£179,827,000£151,293,00036023435248597£301,000 Christ ChurchAedes Christi, Ecclesia Christi Cathedralis Oxon: ex fundatione Regis Henrici Octavi1546Trinity CollegeSarah Foot£830,291,000£816,253,00045522504951680£1,221,000 Corpus Christi CollegeCollegium Corporis Christi1517Corpus Christi CollegeHelen Moore£191,539,000£166,841,0002589825941358£535,000 Exeter CollegeCollegium Exoniense1314Emmanuel CollegeDr Andrew Roe£130,995,000£74,876,000343233265050602£218,000 Green Templeton CollegeCollegium Green Templeton2008St Edmund's CollegeSir Michael Dixon£102,808,000£1,143,0009043905743529£194,000Post graduate-only. Harris Manchester CollegeCollegium de Harris et Manchester1786College: 1996Homerton CollegeBeth Breeze£40,301,000£14,371,00011515004951265£152,000Mature-only. Hertford CollegeCollegium Hertfordense, Collegium Hertfordiense1282College: 1740NonePatrick Roche (interim)