Oxbridge

Oxford and Cambridge Universities (often referred to as Oxbridge) take the leading place in the whole system of British Education. The elite of the British society gets higher education in Oxbridge.

No exact date can be offered for the founding of the Oxford University, but it is believed that its beginning is related to the exodus [′ eksds] (массовый исход) of English students from the University of Paris in 1167 or 1168. The oldest residential colleges in Oxford are University (1242), Ballid (1263) and Merton (1264).

The colleges are scattered throughout the town. They were founded at various dates. Here are some of them: Queen’s (1340), New (1379), Lincoln (1427), All Souls (1437), Magdalen (1458), Christ (1546), Trinity (1554), St.John’s (1555), Jesus (1571), Hertford (1874).

The Oxford University consists of 39 autonomous independent colleges. Each college has its own character and individuality. For example, most of the men at Queen’s College come from the North of England, those of Jesus College from Wales. There are students of different specialties in each college. Every college has its art men, its science men, its medical students. Every student naturally follows his own course of study, but it is supposed that he gains a lot from living among those who represent all other branches.

The Oxford University is known for its tutorial system. The individual tuition is, perhaps, one of the main reasons why admission there is so eagerly sought after. Every student has a tutor, so one of the first things when a student comes to Oxford is to see the tutor, who is attached individually to every student and practically guides him through the whole study course. The tutor more or less plans the student’s work, suggests the books he should read and sets the work for him to do, for example, lectures to attend, an essay to write, etc. Each week the student goes to his tutor in his room, perhaps, with two or three other students, and the tutor discusses with him the work he has done, criticizes in detail the essay he has written and sets him the next week’s work.

Students join different societies. There are dozens of them: dramatic societies, language clubs, philosophy societies, rowing, boxing, political clubs – clubs, in fact, for almost every activity under the sun. The best-known society is the Union, a debating club – a sort of training ground for future statesmen.

The highest officer of the University is Chancellor. The Chancellor is not an academic (ученый), but a public figure who attends university functions such as the degree ceremony but has nothing to do with the running of the university. For example, the chancellor of London University is Queen Elizabeth.

Each college in Oxford and Cambridge has a physical existence in the shape of a dining-hall, a chapel and residential rooms. It is governed by its Fellows commonly called “dons”. The dons are also responsible for teaching the students of the college through the tutorial system. The Fellows elect the Head of the college. Discipline out of College is the responsibility of two Dons, called Proctors. They are appointed annually in rotation. The Proctor’s job is to keep discipline, to see that students aren’t out after midnight. Students can be fined a sum of money, or, for a very serious offence, they can be expelled.

Oxford is full of curious old customs and traditions. For example, every year at sunrise on May morning the choir of Magdalen college gather on the top of Magdalen Tower to sing a Latin hymn. This custom goes back to the first days of the tower, at the end of the 15^th century.

The students eat meals in the College dining-hall, a large room hung with pictures of past Dons of the college. Long tables line the hall and at one end there is a raised platform on which is a special table for the Dons, known as the High Table. It is a great honour to be invited to dine at the High Table. There is a curious tradition in Queen College. Every Christmas day a roast boar’s head is carried, with great ceremony, to the High Table. The story of this custom goes back to the early years of the 16^th century and celebrates the fight between a student of the college and a wild boar on the hills near the college. The student killed the boar by thrusting down its throat a copy of Aristotle that he happened to be reading at the time, saying as he did so, “Graecum est” (That’s Greek!).

At Christ Church Roger Bacon laid the foundations of experimental science. Here every night you can hear the sound of “Great Tom”, the big bell in Tom Tower, the tower that Wren designed for Chist Church. Every night at 5 minutes past 9 the bell is rung 101 times in memory of the 101 students in Christ Church in Henry VIII’s time. In the medieval library of Merton College you can see all the chained books and the old benches just as they were in the 13^th century. These reminders of the past are everywhere.

But the most moving thing in Oxford is a war-memorial. It says:

“In memory of the men of this College who, coming from a foreign land, entered into inheritance ¹ of this place and, returning, fought and died for their country in the war 1914 -1919.

The men to whom that memorial was raised were Germans who had fought against England.

This memorial expresses so well the noble, generous spirit of Oxford.

Notes:

1. entered into inheritance – навечно занесены в списки