About the Graduate School - Research degrees
Oxford is the perfect university city. It's small enough to be intimate, yet large enough to offer variety. You'll find ancient colleges, modern art, award-winning museums, incredible green space - and most of it will be within walking distance of the city centre. Oxford is very well connected to London and other major UK cities by bus and rail, and sits on the edge of the Cotswolds, one of the England's most beautiful regions.
There are many excellent online resources for those who are visiting Oxford:
- The University of Oxford visitors and friends page: for information about visiting University sites, attending University events, touring the colleges. there is also an excellent section on maps: http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors_friends/
- University of Oxford 'What's On' listing: this is part of the pages described above, but it's worth highlighting this on its own. Key University events which are open to the public are listed here; the list is RSS enabled. http://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors_friends/whats_on/
- Visit Oxford: the Oxford City Council's official website for visitor and tourist information on Oxford and the surrounding area. Oxford's Tourist Information Centre, which runs many excellent tours of the city and has a bookshop, is located at 15-16 Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3AS http://www.visitoxford.org/
About the University's Colleges
- The University's Colleges: Oxford Univerity is comprised of 38 colleges and 6 Permanent Private Halls. Together they are the collegiate university, but each college is also an independent, self-governing academic community. You can learn more about the collegiate system, see an interactive map of the colleges, and visit each of the colleges websites through the 'Colleges' page on the University's website. http://www.ox.ac.uk/colleges/index.html
- Oxford University Virtual Tour website uses interactive web pages which allow you to explore and manipulate 360 degree photographic panoramas of the city and university. (NB: The panoramas require Adobe Flash 9 installed.) http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/
Museums and Galleries
- The Ashmolean Museum Art and Archaeology is the world's first university museum. Its first building was built in 1678-1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677. Today's Ashmolean collection is housed in a handsomely renovated 19th century building. Its vast and stunning holdings range across the full spectrum of western and eastern art and antiquities, and include such highlights as the Alfred Jewel, drawings by Michelangelo, Arab ceremonial dress owned by Lawrence of Arabia, Guy Fawkes' lantern, the Messiah Stradivarius. http://www.ashmolean.org/
- The Oxford University Museum of Natural History houses the University's scientific collections of zoological, entomological and geological specimens. The Museum itself is a Grade 1 listed building, renowned for its spectacular neo-Gothic architecture. Among its most famous features are the Oxfordshire dinosaurs and the dodo. (The Natural History Museum adjoins the Pitt Rivers Musem, listed below.) http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/
- The Pitt Rivers Museum: the museum presents a mind-boggling array of archaeological and ethnographic objects from all parts of the world. The museum was founded in 1884 when Lt.-General Pitt Rivers, an influential figure in the development of archaeology and evolutionary anthropology, gave his collection to the University. (The Pitt Rivers Museum adjoins the Natural History Museum, listed above.) http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/
- The Museum of the History of Science houses an unrivalled collection of historic scientific instruments in the world's oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street, Oxford.
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ - The Museum of Oxford is the perfect place to explore Oxford's long history, and places the University in context as one facet of a history that includes ancient saints, medieval crafts, the Civil War, and the city's famous literary connections. http://www.museumofoxford.org.uk/
- Modern Art Oxford is Oxford's leading gallery's for the presentation of modern and contemporary art. http://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/
About the City
The following websites give general information about the city of Oxford, including information about restaurants and shopping. (Please note that the Department provides these links for information only and is not responsible for the content of these sites.)
- Oxford Visitors' Information
http://www.oxfordcity.co.uk/ - Daily Info Oxford
This site provides comprehensive events listings for the city.
http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/guide/ - Oxford City Council
http://www.oxford.gov.uk/ - Oxford City Sightseeing
A 'hop-on, hop-off' bus service that tours the city daily.
http://www.citysightseeingoxford.com/