流水的首相，铁打的牛津。“首相孵化机”，名副其实！

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The University of Oxford

Britain under the Microscope

Teaching was believed to 

have started in Oxford in 1096

▾

There is no firm foundation date.

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 Quickly developed as the second oldest university in the world.

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The first international student arrived in 1190!

▾

Exams were originally oral where students were asked questions over 3 days in seven hour blocks.

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 Women were fully admitted from 1920.

All colleges started to admit both men and women from 2008.

The University of Oxford does not

 have a campus

▾

Instead, there are 39 colleges and six permanent private halls (which are linked to a church).

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Each college is self-governing with their own traditions and histories.

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Oxford also has the oldest museum in the UK called the Ashmolean

 (founded in 1683)

 ▾

Students have to wear subfusc or formal academic dress for formal occasions and their exams.

This also includes Formal Hall where students and faculty eat together – looks a bit like Hogwarts and this is probably what it is based on.

 ▾

Oxford has its own time zone which is 5 minutes and 2 seconds behind London time.

 All lectures and exams are scheduled five minutes past the hour.

 ▾

   The offer rates for applications to Oxford are under 20%

 The Oxford interview involves being interviewed over the course of three days (accommodation and food included!)

 Controversy around more students from private schools and/or privileged backgrounds.

Oxford has lots of clubs and societies

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The Oxford Union is a famous debating society which invites very high profile speakers.

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Another famous club is the Bullington Club which was famous for its rich members and their outrageous behaviour.

 Two British prime ministers were members.

They would vandalise restaurants and pubs but would traditionally pay for any damage on the spot.

This club has become very unpopular for their elitism and ostentatious wealth – apparently only a few members left as people are unwilling to join.

Famous alumni

▾

 29 British prime ministers went to Oxford (including the current one and the past 3)

▾

Authors include Percy Shelly, Lewis Carroll, JRR Tolkien and Oscar Wilde

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Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the World Wide Web) and Stephen Hawking

▾

Qian Zhongshu 

(钱锺书)

晓

玖

馆

生

活

第629期节目全记录文本

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Hi, everyone. And welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】.  Hello, 安澜.

Hi, Lulu. Hi, everyone.

安澜 you grew up as a top student, right？Overachiever.

I was certainly kind of… a bit of a nerd.

Don't be modest. 安澜绝对是从小是学霸那种. You know that many top students in China, they have... and I believe everywhere in the world, have this certain obsession with top universities. 学霸都有那种顶尖名校情结。

I think pretty much every student they think about the top university, they want to try to aim for that.

Especially the top students. So I thought we can talk about some top universities in the UK. Now when I think about, and I think I speak for a lot of people, when we think about famous universities, in the UK, we think Oxbridge.

中文也叫牛剑, 英文也叫Oxbridge, 把这两个学校拼在一起, 对吧?

We do think about Oxbridge, and I guess if we have to speak about them...

Yes, because 安澜 did not go to Oxbridge.

No, but my university was okay, was good. But I wasn't smart enough for Oxford, but my university is also still ranking in the top three or top five.

对安澜去的UCL (University College London) 也一般都是排名top three的, 有几年还超过了 我记得是超过了Cambridge, there were a couple of years.

I can't quite remember exactly when.

But nonetheless, let's talk about Oxbridge.

Okay.

Let's start with oxford.

It's good that we start with Oxford, because that was the first university in the UK. It's actually the second oldest university in the world.

The first being in, I don't know, Germany?

Italy. 

So the first university was in Italy, and then the second oldest is Oxford.

And pretty much it's so old that they're not quite sure when teaching began there. Some people say it's around 1096 or so, but people don't really know.

1096, almost a thousand years.

Pretty much. It is close to 1000 years old. And you think about all of these students that kept going to Oxford, and you think about all the students from other countries that want to go to Oxford. Actually the first international student arrived in 1190.

That's very liberal minded at that time. So you're talking about international students being admitted into oxford so early. What about women?

Women had to wait a little bit longer, until 1920 actually.

It figures, 1920s. And that's to all the colleges.

No, actually all colleges started to admit both men and women from 2008.

2008?

Calm down, calm down. It's not banning women from attending these colleges, it's actually banning men. So the last female-only college actually only started admitting male students in 2008.

I see. 所以Oxford里面有一个是只收女生的学院. I see. And in 2008, onwards both men and women.

That's right.

You mentioned colleges. Now is it a case that Oxford is like this big umbrella, basically understanding of university, and then you have different colleges that belong to the university?

Oxford University or the University of Oxford has about 39 colleges, which are self-governing. They all have their own traditions in history. But when you think about Oxford as a city, don't think of it as like one big university, it's actually lots of colleges all spread out across the city.

So they don't really have the idea of a main campus with a gate.

No. It's all part of the main city. And that's pretty much the same for many universities in the UK. You don't actually have a main gate and fences around the campus. It's actually just part of the city.

Yeah, even some London based universities, they don't have campus, their buildings are just scattered around London.

That's right.

Same with Oxford. Actually you mentioned Oxford city. So Oxford is actually a city, a town that many people don't know that, it's not just a university.

It is a city. It's a very popular city.

It's not very big though.

Well, it's still a city.

I see.

But Oxford...I've been to Oxford many times, and you can see lots of students around on the street, but you can also see lots of just ordinary people living there.

Yeah, living in Oxford. And it's not that far away from London, isn't it?

No, it's only about maybe an hour by train, or an hour and a half, two hours by bus.

I see. And one thing...I mean I've been to Oxford, the city, a few times. It's a lovely little city, and not only do you get all these wonderful old buildings, you also get some amazing museums.

Oxford has the oldest museum in the UK, called the Ashmolean, and that was founded in 1683.

Yeah, I still remember the Ashmolean Museum.

Absolutely beautiful. And if I remember rightly, it's free to enter.

One thing that I know about Oxford is that it has many of its own particular rules and traditions.

Oxford and also Cambridge as well, they have their own little traditions, they have their own rules, even their own vocabulary and language in some aspect. One of the most noticeable things is dress. Students have to wear formal academic dress for formal occasions and also for their exams. That's what they call sub fusc.

Sub fusc, I think I've heard of it. 就是牛津的那种, 包括剑桥好像也有, 是一个学院风的这样一个学院袍子一样的东西. Why is it called sub fusc？

It's a Latin word. It just means dark brown, even though that it's actually black. It's a black gown and normally black suit and a white blouse and black skirt for women.

So this is for formal occasions.

And their exams as well. You have to wear this during your exams.

You know it reminds me of Harry Potter, with all these rules and especially about dressing.

Well yeah. You think back to the Harry Potter films, lots of it is actually based on the architecture and the traditions of Oxford and Cambridge.

So Hogwarts basically.

Pretty much. So if you look at formal hall where students and faculty eat together, like this massive formal dinner, it's very much like Harry Potter.

If you are a Harry Potter fan, maybe work harder and try to get into Oxbridge.

Certainly. It's pretty much like being in a Harry Potter film. But there are also these other strange little traditions as well. One of the weirdest is that Oxford has its own time zone.

What?

It's 5 minutes and 2 seconds behind London time, which is the official UK time.

So specific. 5 minutes and 2 seconds.

If you think back, before we had railways in the UK, every town and city would have its own time zone. So if you calculate time based on when it's noon- it's 12 o'clock, then that slightly changes across the country. So noon is 5 minutes later in Oxford than it is in London.

Okay.

That's why all lectures and exams are scheduled 5 minutes pass the hour.

That's actually what I wanted to ask, about exam time. Some peculiar little traditions. And coming back to the university being one of the...really the top top universities in the world, it's very difficult to get in, right? What is the admission rates for applicants?

It's around 20% or just under.

It doesn't sound too bad, but I guess it's because not everyone would even have the courage to apply to Oxford.

Pretty much. The Oxford interview itself is quite intense because you're interviewed over the course of 3 days, and it's actually quite a nice experience.

Sounds like you had that experience.

I did.

Okay, so tell us a little bit about it.

To be honest, I was very young, ill-prepared and rather stupid.

Okay. What did you do?

It's the whole concept you know 年少轻狂.

Okay年少轻狂 What did you do?

Well, I didn't prepare for the exam. They had to give you an exam and I didn't really know how to prepare for it. I accidentally insulted one of the professors because he was asking me these questions and I just thought they were a bit strange. I kind of have said as much.

So you insulted, you dissed, an Oxford professor in your Oxford interview.

Accidentally, yes.

Okay, that is年少轻狂.

Yeah, but the actual experience was really nice, because accommodation and food are all included.

So it's like a free trip to Oxford.

That's how I treated it. I treated it as like a really nice sort of city break where everything was paid for me.

I see, but there are controversies about Oxbridge being very elitist. They are more for kids from richer family, upper-middle class or upper-class families because you have to be graduating from private schools in order to...

That is generally the case. It's now becoming much more of an issue. So there are more students from private schools or privileged backgrounds, you go to Oxford and Cambridge. But now, to their credit, oxford is trying to reach out to more people from state schools as well as people from ethnic minorities.

Talking about elitism, 就提到精英主义或者关于精英主义的这些controversy, Oxford is also known for some of the elite clubs and societies like basically like the old boys club, that sort of thing.

That is becoming less of an issue, but traditionally it was always the same case. It was what they call the Old Boys Network, Old Boys Club. And one of the most famous of these clubs is actually probably one of the most infamous, it's called the Bullingdon Club.

Okay.

Now the Bullingdon Club was famous for its very rich members and their outrageous behavior. So what they would do is they would vandalize a restaurant or a pub, but traditionally they pay for any damage on the spot.

But still, it's kind of like rich boys get to do whatever they want, because they can pay their way out of it.

Pretty much. So the club has become very unpopular. We actually had two prime ministers who were members and that was quite an issue when that…for came out. So it's become so unpopular that there's only a few members left. And as people kind of now unwilling to join.

Because it's scandalous, isn't it?

Exactly. And people now see it for what it is, which is just this kind of rather horrible elitist club.

Yeah, but despite all that, Oxford does have many many famous alumni. 

Yeah. 29 of our prime ministers went to Oxford, including the current one and the past three prime ministers.

So Boris Johnson…

Theresa May,

Cameron,

David Cameron, and Liz Truss, our current prime minister went there as well.

So it does sound like politicians, they sort of graduated from Oxford instead of Cambridge.

Pretty much. That's because I would say Oxford is probably known more for humanities. So that's why you have authors like Percy Shelley, Lewis Carroll, Tolkien.

Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings.

Lord of the Rings. Oscar Wilde. But you also have some scientists like, for example, Stephen Hawking did his first degree at Oxford, and Tim Berners-Lee.

The inventor of the Internet.

Yeah, the man who invented the Internet.

And also 钱锺书.

He also went to Oxford as well.

Now I'm sure we have Oxford students or graduates among our audience. If you wanna say something or if that is your target, or if that is your university, leave us a comment in the comment section.

And if you're planning to apply for Oxford, I'm more than happy to tell you what I did, so that you can avoid doing the same thing yourself.

All right. And on that note, we're gonna say goodbye here. Next time we're gonna talk about Cambridge.

Can't wait.

See you next time.

Bye.

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