St Hilda's College, Oxford

St Hilda's College, Oxford

Encyclopedia

Tutorials

Encyclopedia

Dictionary

Directory

Email this to a friend St_Hilda's_College,_Oxford

St Hilda's College, Oxford

St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded by Dorothea Beale, who also founded Cheltenham Ladies' College. A key feature of the college from its foundation to 2006 was its all female status. After a vote on 7 June 2006 by the Governing Body, men and women can be admitted as fellows and students. The first male undergraduate and graduate students will start their studies in Michaelmas term 2008.^[1]

The college is in Cowley Place, and is the most easterly of all the university's colleges. It consists of six major buildings containing student accommodation and teaching areas: Hall, South, Milham Ford, Wolfson, Garden, and the Christina Barratt Building (opened in 2001). The Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building is a concert venue named after the famous cellist who was an honorary fellow of the college. The college also owns a number of properties on Iffley Road, and in the Cowley area.

The college is situated alongside the River Cherwell, with many college rooms overlooking the river itself. One benefit of this location is that the college has its own fleet of punts, which students of the college may hire for free. Unfortunately, this has at times led to problems with flooding in Milham Ford building.

The current Principal is Sheila Forbes, CBE, a graduate of the college. She took up the post in 2007.

As with all the colleges of the University of Oxford, St Hilda's has always maintained very high academic standards in all fields. In its history as a women's college, it has also shown continuation at degree level of particular trends demonstrated by girls at GCSE and A-Level, with students at St Hilda's scoring huge numbers of Firsts in English and History. St Hilda's has frequently produced a greater percentage of English Firsts per year than any other constituent college.

As of 2006, the college had an estimated financial endowment of £39 million.^[2]

Trivia
Notable former students
Academics/teachers

Honorary fellows

References
External links

Trivia

St Hilda's students were the subject of the Channel 4 documentary series College Girls, broadcast in 2002.
According to Jeremy Paxman hosting University Challenge on BBC television, St Hilda's students have traditionally been referred to (somewhat uncharitably) as 'Hildabeests' (after wildebeest).