University of Oxford

Teaching since 1096. Oldest English-speaking university, 30-plus colleges, 70 Nobel affiliates.

Overview

Oxford taught students by 1096 and never stopped, surviving plague, civil war, and eight centuries of politics. Its 39 colleges and permanent private halls scatter through the city, each a self-contained academic society; tutorials remain the teaching signature. Thirty British prime ministers, from Walpole to Truss, studied here, alongside Tolkien, Hawking, and Malala's recent years. The Bodleian Library opened 1602 and holds over 13 million printed items. Rhodes, Clarendon, and Weidenfeld scholarships draw the world yearly. Oxford University Press, founded 1586, is the largest university press on earth.