The 2021/2 academic year is now well underway in Oxford, which means a fresh batch of new students getting to grips with some of the bewildering terminology employed here, as well as prospective applicants for next year trying to figure out what on earth a college is and which one they should apply to. As a wizened final year DPhil student I decided to compile an A-Z of Oxford related terms in the hope that someone might find it useful.

A – Ashmolean Museum

Britain’s first public museum, established all the way back in 1678. Home to exhibits covering Ancient Egypt to Modern Art and everything in between.

B – Battels

A termly bill students receive from their college which might cover things like charges for food and accommodation, or fines for not returning books to the library on time.

C – College

The 39 colleges are small educational institutions which together comprise the University of Oxford. Every student is a member of a college, each of which has their own set of facilities, including a dining hall, bar, library and student accommodation. Colleges also have their own student unions, called the Junior Common Room (for undergraduates) and Middle Common Room (for postgraduates), which are excellent places to socialise and meet people studying lots of different subjects.

D – DPhil

Known throughout the rest of the world as a PhD, Oxford uses the abbreviation DPhil for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It’s a rare example of Oxford not seizing the opportunity to use Latin instead of English whenever possible (PhD is an abbreviation of philosophiae doctor).

E – Encaenia

Encaenia (pronounced En-see-nya) is a ceremony which marks the end of Oxford’s academic year. The university gives out a small number of honorary degrees at Encaenia, which is hosted in the Sheldonian theatre.

F – Formal

A fancy dinner held in a college dining hall. Students generally wear formal clothing and their gowns (see below).

G – Gown

Students are occasionally required to wear an academic gown on top of their normal attire. The reason why this practice persists is not particularly clear, but it resembles something of a ‘college uniform’.

H – Harris Manchester

One of Oxford’s 39 colleges, this one is for mature students only, meaning that they only accept students who are over the age of 21.

I – Iffley Road Sports Centre

The main university sports facility, it’s also the place where the athlete Roger Bannister became the first person in history to run a mile in under 4 minutes (back in the day that was a very big deal).

J – Jenner Institute

Named after the inventor of vaccination, the Jenner is Oxford’s primary centre for vaccine research. It was heavily involved in the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19.

K – Kellogg

The largest Oxford college in terms of student numbers, Kellogg only admits graduate students, many of whom study part time. Founded in 1990, it also carries the distinction of being the only Oxford college in which the grace before dinner is in Welsh.

L – Lamb and Flag

One of Oxford’s oldest and best known pubs, it is owned by St John’s College, who use the profits from the pub to fund several scholarships for graduate students.

M – Matriculation

An event at the start of the academic year, which officially registers new students as members of the university. Given that the ceremony is entirely in Latin and for many students takes place very early on a Saturday morning, one might be forgiven for wondering why they can’t just register online!

N – Norrington Table

Named after a former president of Trinity College, the Norrington table ranks colleges based on the performance of their undergraduate students in their final examinations. A first class mark is worth a certain number of points, a 2.i worth a smaller amount of points and so on. Some people take the rankings very seriously but thankfully most people are sensible enough to realise that final exams are stressful enough without heaping additional pressure onto students.

O – OPIG

A research group in the department of statistics doing lots of interesting research in protein informatics 😉

P – Porter’s Lodge

A room situated at the entrance to each college manned by a Porter, who controls access to the college, monitors the CCTV footage and takes delivery of any parcels that might be delivered to the college.

Q – Quadrangle

An architectural feature present in many colleges, a quadrangle is a set of buildings arranged in a rectangle with a grass lawn in the centre. Only senior academics (fellows) of the college are allowed to walk on the grass lawns without incurring a fine (for reasons which have never been particularly clear to me)

R – Radcliffe Camera

Perhaps the most recognisable building in Oxford, the Radcliffe Camera is a beautiful library in Radcliffe Square open to members of the university and registered readers.

S – Sub Fusc

Sub Fusc is the univeristy’s academic dress, worn on important occasions such as Matriculation, Graduation and Exams. It consists of a dark suit, white shirt, black or white tie and a mortarboard (the square hat). Interestingly, the university held a referendum on dispensing with Sub Fusc for Exams a few years ago and the student body heavily voted in favour of keeping it.

T – Transfer of Status

Transfer is an assessment which all doctoral students must take in the early stages of their degree. All research students begin on a probationary status and after a period of time (usually about a year) they must compile a report describing the work they have done so far and what they intend to do for the rest of their doctorate. Transfer also involves an oral exam with two senior academics, who quiz the student on the work they have done and the wider research area they are working in. Whilst it sounds intimidating, the Transfer exam is a really good opportunity to get outside feedback on your work from an expert and can help shape your project as you progress into your second year.

U – Union

The Oxford Union is one of the world’s oldest debating societies. Open to all students within the university, they also host events featuring famous speakers from all sorts of different fields.

V – Viva Voce

The oral exam at the end of a doctoral degree. After doing research for 3 or 4 years, doctoral students write down the work they have done into a thesis, which is read by two examiners. The student is then examined on the thesis by their examiners, and must convince them that the work they have done is a sufficient ‘contribution to knowledge’ to be awarded a doctoral degree.

W – Warden

The title given to the head of All Souls’, Keble, Merton, New, Nuffield, St Antony’s and Wadham colleges. Other colleges refer to the head of their college by a variety of different names, including the Dean, Master, President, Principal, Provost and Rector.

X – X-Ray Crystallography

The technique used by Oxford Academic Dorothy Hodgkin to solve the structure of Insulin, paving the way for its mass production and improving the treatment of diabetes for millions of people.

Y – Year (academic)

This one is tenuous, I admit…The academic year in Oxford is divided up into 3 terms, Michaelmas (October-December), Hilary (January-March) and Trinity (April-June). For taught students, the majority of teaching takes place in Michaelmas and Hilary, whilst exams are in Trinity. Research students generally work throughout the year, although there are a larger number of social and extracurricular events scheduled in term time.

Z – Zoology

The university has a Zoology department which is home to researchers studying a broad range of subjects across the life sciences.

And that’s it! There’s still a bunch of terms I wasn’t able to cover in this post (Collections, Pidge etc.) but hopefully you’re a little more clued up on your Oxford jargon than you were before!