University of Oxford

The University of Oxford, formally The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford, is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England, and the oldest university in the English-speaking world.牛津大学（University of Oxford），正式名称为牛津大学校监、硕士与学者团体，是一所位于英格兰牛津的学院制研究型大学，也是英语世界历史最悠久的大学。

Teaching at Oxford is recorded from 1096, and the university is organised as a federation of colleges with a central administration, placing first in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.牛津的授课记录可追溯至 1096 年，大学以书院联邦制组织，另设中央行政机构，在 2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名中位列全球第一。

In 2025 it enrolled 26,800 students, 12,460 of them undergraduates and 13,755 postgraduate, taught by some 8,005 academic staff, with an endowment of 9.278 billion pounds including the colleges.2025 年学校在校学生 26800 人，其中本科生 12460 人、研究生 13755 人，约有 8005 名学术人员，含各书院在内的捐赠基金为 92.78 亿英镑。

History

• Oxford has no known date of foundation: teaching in some form is recorded from 1096, and the university grew rapidly after 1167 when Henry II barred English students from studying at Paris.牛津没有确切的建校日期，其教学以某种形式最早见诸 1096 年的记录；1167 年亨利二世禁止英格兰学生前往巴黎求学后，牛津迅速壮大。

• By 1188 the scholar Gerald of Wales was lecturing to the assembled masters, and the first known foreign scholar arrived in 1190.到 1188 年，学者威尔斯的杰拉德已在为聚集的教师授课；已知的第一位外国学者于 1190 年到达牛津。

• From 1201 the university appointed a chancellor as its head, its governing body was named as the masters from 1231, and in 1248 Henry III granted it a royal charter confirming its standing as a university.自 1201 年起大学设校监为首领，其管理机构自 1231 年起由硕士组成；1248 年亨利三世授予皇家特许状，确认其大学地位。

• In 1209 a dispute between the townspeople and the scholars drove a group of them north-east to Cambridge, where they founded the association that became the University of Cambridge.1209 年，牛津镇民与师生发生冲突，一批学者迁往东北方的剑桥，成立了后来发展为剑桥大学的学者团体。

• Students were long divided by where they came from, with northerners from Scotland and north of the Trent in one group and Irish, Welsh and southern English students in another.学生长期按籍贯分作两群：一群来自苏格兰与特伦特河以北的英格兰，另一群来自爱尔兰、威尔士与特伦特河以南的英格兰。

• Mendicant orders including the Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites and Augustinians established houses and offered students lodgings, and benefactors founded the first independent colleges.道明会、方济各会、加尔默罗会与奥斯定会等托钵修会先后设院并向学生提供住宿，捐助者则创办了最早的独立书院。

• University College was endowed in 1249 by William of Durham, Balliol College was founded by John I de Balliol, and Merton College, established by Walter de Merton, became the model for colleges at Oxford and later at Cambridge.大学书院于 1249 年由达勒姆的威廉捐建，贝利奥尔书院由约翰·德·贝利奥尔创办，而由沃尔特·德·默顿建立的墨顿书院则成为牛津及后来剑桥各书院的范本。

• In 1333 and 1334 Oxford and Cambridge jointly petitioned Edward III to forbid the founding of another university in Lincolnshire, beginning a duopoly in England that lasted until the 1820s.1333 至 1334 年间，牛津与剑桥联合向爱德华三世请愿，要求禁止在林肯郡另立大学，由此开启了英格兰延续至十九世纪二十年代的牛剑双头格局。

• Renaissance scholarship reached Oxford in the fifteenth century through figures such as William Grocyn, a pioneer of Greek studies, and the biblical theologian John Colet.文艺复兴学术于十五世纪经威廉·格罗辛等希腊学研究的开拓者以及圣经神学家约翰·科莱传入牛津。

• After the Reformation and the break with Rome, some scholars left for the continent, and the curriculum shifted from medieval scholastic philosophy towards the humanist model.宗教改革及与罗马教廷决裂之后，部分学者前往欧洲大陆，课程也从经院哲学转向人文主义模式。

• In 1636 William Laud, chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury, drew up the university statutes that governed it into the nineteenth century and secured a charter for the university press.1636 年，时任校监兼坎特伯雷大主教的威廉·劳德编订大学法令，其效力延续至十九世纪，他还为大学出版社取得了特许保障。

• Membership of the Church of England was required for the Bachelor of Arts degree until 1866, and from 1871 those who would not conform could still take a master's degree.直到 1866 年，取得文学学士学位仍须为英格兰国教会成员；1871 年起，不皈依国教者仍可获授文学硕士学位。

• During the Civil War of 1642 to 1649 the university was a Royalist stronghold although the town itself favoured the Parliamentarians, and after the mid-eighteenth century it seldom engaged in political conflict.1642 至 1649 年英国内战期间，大学是骑士党的大本营，而牛津城本身倾向议会派；十八世纪中叶以后，大学甚少卷入政治纷争。

• The Oxford Movement of 1833 to 1845, led by John Henry Newman, sought to renew the Church of England, and German models of university education were introduced by scholars such as Benjamin Jowett and Max Muller.1833 至 1845 年由约翰·亨利·纽曼领导的牛津运动试图重整英格兰国教会；本杰明·乔伊特与马克斯·缪勒等学者则把德国式的大学教育模式引入牛津。

• Honours schools were separated by subject from 1802, the schools of natural science, law and modern history were created in 1853, and the study of Greek was required for entry until 1920, with Latin required until 1960.荣誉学位自 1802 年起按学科分设；自然科学、法律与现代史学院于 1853 年设立；入学考试直到 1920 年前仍要求希腊文、直到 1960 年前仍要求拉丁文。

• The first examination for women was set in 1875, Lady Margaret Hall was founded in 1878 and Somerville College in 1879, whose first twenty-one students heard lectures in the attic of a Oxford bakery.牛津于 1875 年首次为女性设置本科考试；玛格丽特夫人学堂于 1878 年创办，萨默维尔书院于 1879 年创办，两所书院的首批共二十一名学生起初在一家牛津面包房的阁楼里听课。

• St Hugh's, St Hilda's and St Anne's followed as women's colleges, and women were admitted to full membership of the university in 1920.圣休书院、圣希尔达书院与圣安妮书院相继作为女性书院成立；1920 年，女性获得大学的完全成员资格。

• In 1974 Brasenose, Jesus, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine's were the first former men's colleges to admit women, and by 1988 women made up 40 per cent of undergraduates.1974 年，布雷齐诺斯、耶稣、瓦德汉、赫特福德与圣凯瑟琳成为首批招收女性的前男子书院；到 1988 年，女性已占本科生的四成。

• St Hilda's, the last women's college, admitted men in 2008, making all Oxford colleges open to both sexes.最后一所女性书院圣希尔达书院于 2008 年开始招收男性，至此牛津各书院全部男女兼收。

• In the twentieth century scholars displaced in continental Europe by Nazism and communism came to Oxford, and more than fifty heads of state or government have since studied there.二十世纪，因纳粹主义与共产主义而被迫离开欧洲大陆的学者来到牛津；此后已有五十多位国家元首或政府首脑在此求学。

Academics

• Oxford is a federal university made up of 39 self-governing colleges and a number of permanent private halls, together with four academic divisions and a department for continuing education.牛津是一所联邦制大学，由 39 所自治书院、若干永久私人学堂，以及四个学术学部与一个继续教育部门组成。

• The four divisions are humanities, mathematical physical and life sciences, medical sciences, and social sciences, and they set syllabuses, appoint staff and direct research.四个学部分别人文、数学物理与生命科学、医学，以及社会科学，负责编制课程、聘任教师与指导研究。

• Colleges are separate legal entities with their own governing bodies, admissions and student life, and every student and academic is a member of one of them.各书院是独立的法律实体，拥有自己的管理机构、招生与生活安排，每位学生与教师都隶属于其中一所书院。

• Undergraduate teaching combines the weekly tutorial, in which one or two students discuss written work with a specialist, with lectures and laboratory classes provided by the divisions.本科教学把每周的导师辅导课——由一到两名学生就书面作业与专业导师讨论——与学部开设的讲座和实验课结合起来。

• Oxford is home to the Rhodes Scholarship, created by the will of Cecil Rhodes in 1902, and to the Clarendon Fund for graduate scholarships, established in 2001.牛津是罗德奖学金的所在地，该奖学金依塞西尔·罗兹 1902 年的遗嘱设立；2001 年又设立面向研究生的克拉伦登奖学金基金。

• Oxford University Press, which printed its first book in 1586, is the largest university press in the world and publishes dictionaries, reference works and academic titles.牛津大学出版社于 1586 年印出其第一本书，是世界上规模最大的大学出版社，出版词典、工具书与学术著作。

• The Bodleian Library is one of the six legal deposit libraries of the United Kingdom and holds more than thirteen million printed items across its reading rooms and stores.博德利图书馆是英国六座法定送存图书馆之一，其阅览室与书库共藏有逾一千三百万件印刷品。

• The library system is organised in three tiers, with libraries provided by the university, by the divisions and by individual colleges.图书馆体系分作三层，分别由大学、各学部以及各书院提供。

• Oxford's museums include the Ashmolean, opened in 1683 and regarded as the world's first university museum, and the Pitt Rivers Museum of anthropology and archaeology, founded in 1884.牛津的博物馆包括 1683 年开放、被视为世界第一座大学博物馆的阿什莫尔博物馆，以及 1884 年创办的人类学与考古学皮特河博物馆。

• Governance rests with Congregation, which includes more than 3,700 academic and administrative staff and all graduates of the university as lifelong members, and with the University Council.大学由全体教职员大会与大学评议会治理，前者由 3700 多名学术及行政人员组成，并包含全体毕业生作为终身成员。

• The chancellor, currently Lord Hague of Richmond, is the formal head but does not manage daily business, which belongs to the vice-chancellor, Irene Tracey, supported by five pro-vice-chancellors.校监为学校的形式首领，现任为里士满的黑格勋爵，但不处理日常事务；日常行政由校长艾琳·特雷西负责，并设有五位副校长分管。

• Two proctors are elected each year by the colleges to inspect whether members comply with the statutes and to look after student order and welfare.各书院每年轮流选出两名学监，负责察查成员是否依章行事，并照管学生的秩序与福利。

• Appointments through the university carry the title of statutory professor, and these professors shape the development of graduate courses in particular.由大学聘任的教师获称法定教授，他们尤其主导着研究生课程的发展方向。

• The university is funded partly by government grant and partly by its colleges as independent private bodies, which is why it is described as both a public and a collegiate institution.学校的经费部分来自政府拨款、部分来自作为独立私人团体的各书院，因此兼具公立与学院联邦制的双重性质。

• As of October 2020 its alumni, staff and researchers included 72 Nobel laureates, three Fields medallists and six Turing Award winners.截至 2020 年 10 月，其校友、教职员与研究人员中包括 72 位诺贝尔奖得主、3 位菲尔兹奖得主与 6 位图灵奖得主。

• It has strengths across mathematics, physics, medicine, law, business and literature, and its tutorial method is widely imitated.学校在数学、物理、医学、法律、商学与文学等领域实力雄厚，其导师辅导制被广泛仿效。

• Oxford admitted its first students from outside Europe in the sixteenth century and now recruits staff and students from across the world.牛津自十六世纪起便招收欧洲以外的学生，如今其师生来自世界各地。

Campus

• Oxford has no main campus separate from the town: its colleges, departments and facilities are scattered through the streets of the city, so the city and the university interlock.牛津没有与城镇分离的主校区，其书院、院系与设施散布在城市的街巷之中，城与校彼此交织。

• Most of the science buildings are grouped in the Science Area, and a 3.7-hectare site at the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in the north-west of the city is being developed.自然科学建筑大多集中在科学区；位于城市西北、占地 3.7 公顷的拉德克利夫天文台区正在开发之中。

• The Sheldonian Theatre, designed by Christopher Wren and completed in 1669, is used for concerts, lectures and university ceremonies.由克里斯托弗·雷恩设计、1669 年建成的谢尔登剧院，用于举办音乐会、讲座与各类大学典礼。

• The Examination Schools are used for examinations and sometimes for teaching, and before the Sheldonian was built the University Church of St Mary the Virgin served for ceremonies.考试学校用于考试并偶尔授课；在谢尔登剧院建成之前，圣母玛利亚大学教堂一直是举行典礼的场所。

• Christ Church Cathedral is unusual in being both the cathedral of the Anglican diocese of Oxford and the chapel of a college.基督堂座堂颇为特别，既是圣公会牛津教区的主教座堂，又是一所书院的礼拜堂。

• The University Parks cover 70 acres in the north-east of the city and contain sports grounds and a genetic garden for the study of evolution.大学公园位于城市东北，占地 70 英亩，内有运动场以及用于研究进化过程的基因园。

• The Botanic Garden on the High Street, founded in 1621, is the oldest botanic garden in Britain.位于高街的植物园创建于 1621 年，是英国历史最悠久的植物园。

• The Castle Mill development of 2012 to 2013 added several four- and five-storey residential blocks and was criticised for obstructing views of the city centre.2012 至 2013 年建设的米尔城堡住宅群包含数座四至五层宿舍楼，因遮挡市中心景观而受到批评。

• Because colleges differ greatly in wealth, the accommodation and facilities they offer vary widely, and university-managed housing is intended to narrow the gap.由于各书院财力相差悬殊，其提供的住宿与设施也差别很大，由大学统一管理的宿舍意在缩小这一差距。

• The central administration is based at Wellington Square, and the university uses buildings throughout the city rather than a single enclosed site.大学的中央行政机构设在威灵顿广场；学校使用遍布全城的建筑，而非单一围合的园区。

• Colleges are built around enclosed quadrangles, and Mob Quad at Merton College, built between 1288 and 1378, is the earliest surviving quadrangle design at the university.各书院多围绕封闭的方庭院建造，墨顿书院于 1288 至 1378 年间建成的墨顿方院，是校内现存最早的方庭院式设计。

Reputation

• Oxford ranks fourth in the 2027 QS World University Rankings, first in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, seventh in the 2026 Academic Ranking of World Universities and fourth in the 2026-2027 U.S. News Best Global Universities.牛津在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中位列全球第四，2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名第一，2026 年软科世界大学学术排名第七，2026 至 2027 年度 US News 全球最佳大学排名第四。^[1]

• It has headed the Times Higher Education table in consecutive editions, and it is placed among the top ten in every major global ranking.学校已连续多个版本位居泰晤士高等教育榜单首位，并在各大全球排名中均列前十。

• It has educated 31 British prime ministers, from Robert Walpole onwards, more than any other institution.学校培养了自罗伯特·沃波尔以降的 31 位英国首相，数量超过其他任何机构。

• More than fifty heads of state or government from other countries have studied at Oxford, among them Bill Clinton and Benazir Bhutto as Rhodes Scholars.另有五十多位其他国家的国家元首或政府首脑曾在牛津求学，其中包括以罗德学者身份就读的比尔·克林顿与贝娜齐尔·布托。

• Oxford's strengths in mathematics, physics, medicine, law, business and literature give it influence across the disciplines, and its teaching methods have been widely copied.牛津在数学、物理、医学、法律、商学与文学等方面的实力使其在各学科都有影响，其教学法被广泛效仿。

• Its academic community has produced 72 Nobel laureates and six Turing Award winners, and its alumni include three Fields medallists.其学术共同体培养出 72 位诺贝尔奖得主与 6 位图灵奖得主，校友中还有 3 位菲尔兹奖得主。

• The university's press and library are among the largest of their kind anywhere, reinforcing its position in scholarship and publishing.学校的出版社与图书馆在同类机构中规模居前，巩固了它在学术与出版领域的地位。

• Oxford and Cambridge together dominate older rankings of British universities and are jointly known as Oxbridge.牛津与剑桥长期共同占据英国大学各类旧有排名的前列，被合称为「牛剑」。

• Its performance on measures of research income, citation impact and graduate employment places it consistently at the top of British institutions.在科研经费、引用影响力与毕业生就业等指标上，学校长期位居英国院校之首。

Student life

• The university motto, Dominus illuminatio mea, means the Lord is my light and is taken from the opening of Psalm 27.学校校训「主乃我光」出自《诗篇》第二十七篇的开头。

• Students wear subfusc, the dark academic dress with gown, for examinations and formal ceremonies, a tradition shared with Cambridge.学生在考试与正式典礼上须穿着「素服」，即配长袍的深色学位服，这一传统与剑桥相同。

• The Oxford Union, founded in 1823, is one of the oldest debating societies in the world and has hosted many public figures.创立于 1823 年的牛津辩论会是世界上历史最悠久的辩论社团之一，众多知名人士曾在此演讲。

• Encaenia is the annual ceremony at which honorary degrees are conferred, held in the Sheldonian Theatre, and May Morning is celebrated at dawn on 1 May with singing from Magdalen Tower.恩卡尼亚是每年在谢尔登剧院举行的荣誉学位颁授典礼；五月清晨则以五月一日黎明时分从莫德林塔上传出的歌声来庆祝。

• Eights Week, also called Summer Eights, is the university's main rowing competition, in which college boats race to win the headship.八人艇周又称夏季八人艇赛，是学校主要的赛艇赛事，各书院船队竞逐头名。

• Oxford competes against Cambridge in the Boat Race on the Thames each spring, a fixture first rowed in 1829.每年春天牛津与剑桥在泰晤士河上进行赛艇对抗赛，这项赛事始于 1829 年。

• Every student belongs to a college, and the college rather than the university provides most meals, accommodation, sports and social life.每名学生都隶属于一所书院，日常的膳食、住宿、体育与社交生活多由书院而非大学提供。

• The town and gown relationship, the balance between the city and the university, has been a theme of Oxford life for centuries.城与校之间的关系，即市民与师生的相处，几个世纪以来一直是牛津生活的一个主题。

• Oxford has hundreds of student societies covering sport, music, drama, politics and academic subjects, run separately by the university and by individual colleges.牛津有数百个学生社团，涵盖体育、音乐、戏剧、政治与学术领域，由大学与各书院分别组织。

Notable people

• The earls, bishops and royal officials who endowed the earliest colleges, such as William of Durham and Walter de Merton, gave Oxford its federal structure.捐建最早各书院的伯爵、主教与王室官员，如达勒姆的威廉与沃尔特·德·默顿，塑造了牛津的联邦制格局。

• John Henry Newman, a leader of the Oxford Movement in the 1830s and 1840s, later became a Roman Catholic cardinal.十九世纪三四十年代牛津运动的领袖约翰·亨利·纽曼，后来成为天主教枢机。

• Among the writers educated at Oxford are Oscar Wilde, Graham Greene, Aldous Huxley, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.在牛津受教育的作家包括奥斯卡·王尔德、格雷厄姆·格林、奥尔德斯·赫胥黎、J. R. R. 托尔金与 C. S. 刘易斯。

• Tolkien was Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford and C. S. Lewis taught at Magdalen College, where they founded an informal literary group.托尔金曾任牛津墨顿学院英语语言文学教授，C. S. 刘易斯在莫德林书院任教，二人曾组织非正式的文学团体。

• Stephen Hawking took his undergraduate degree at University College, Oxford, before moving to Cambridge for his doctorate.斯蒂芬·霍金在牛津大学书院取得本科学位，其后赴剑桥攻读博士。

• Tim Berners-Lee, who devised the World Wide Web, studied physics at Queen's College, Oxford.发明万维网的蒂姆·伯纳斯-李曾在牛津女王书院攻读物理。

• Political figures educated at Oxford include Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, Bill Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi.在牛津受教育的政治人物包括英迪拉·甘地、贝娜齐尔·布托、比尔·克林顿与昂山素季。

• The university has supplied Britain with prime ministers from Robert Peel and William Gladstone to Clement Attlee, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.学校为英国输送了从罗伯特·皮尔、威廉·格莱斯顿到克莱门特·艾德礼、玛格丽特·撒切尔与托尼·布莱尔等多位首相。

• Alan Turing, often wrongly described as an Oxford alumnus, studied at Cambridge and later worked in Oxford's mathematics department during the Second World War.常被误传为牛津校友的艾伦·图灵实际就读于剑桥，后来在第二次世界大战期间供职于牛津的数学部门。

• Its scientists and physicians include Nobel laureates in physiology or medicine and chemistry, and its tutorials have trained generations of researchers.其科学家与医生中包括生理学或医学以及化学领域的诺贝尔奖得主，其导师制培养了一代代研究者。