History

• The first schools in England were created in the late 6th century at cathedrals and monasteries to train priests and monks to conduct church services. Because of the Viking invasions, it was not until the 13th century that universities developed. Students formed groups that eventually became the earliest colleges, founded by bishops and exclusively for wealthy males. Oxford was the first university established in England. At that time, university students decided when and what they would study and employed their own instructors. If they became bored with one professor, they just hired another one.The students used the professors' books and kept notes on parchment or wax tablets.
  
  

Function

• Many scholars believe that Oxford University, the first secondary school, was established in 872 by King Alfred. However, it is more likely that Alfred established grammar schools to encourage education throughout his territory. Oxford did not actually become a university until the 2th century when students formed groups with popular scholars. There were no actual buildings at that time. Oxford and the area townspeople did not get along. Thus, in 1209, the students moved to Cambridge. Five years later, the traders in Oxford persuaded some of the students to return. Robert Grosseteste was named the first chancellor.
  The first students lived with the townspeople or in halls, such as St. Edmundl, opened in 1238. About that time, the first colleges were also established. Each had its own buildings, land and self-governance. University College dates to 1249. When the printing press was invented, books no longer were a luxury and became much more common. Students learned grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy and music.
  
  

Considerations

• Many of the students who moved from Oxford to Cambridge organized themselves into educational groups and named a chancellor to lead them. Henry III gave the students his support about 1230, declaring that only those students who studied under a notable Master could remain in Cambridge. Exams were orals or debates, instead of being written. The majority of master's degrees were in the holy orders. The clergy were first led by the area ecclesiastical authority. This changed by the mid-15th century, when the chancellor assumed a great deal of authority and listened to discipline, morals and criminal cases.
  In 1381, university students and townspeople fought each other, and the chancellor assumed even more power. The change from a religious to secular emphasis occurred when Henry VIII forbid study of Canon Law and created professorships in the humanities, religion, physics and civil law. Over the following centuries, monarchs and governments decided the classes that were taught, and the university had to bestow degrees on candidates recommended by the royal court. In the next two centuries, sporting activities became popular. After World War II, the facilities grew significantly, especially in the area of the sciences.
  
  

Theories/Speculation

• There is considerable disagreement over the third oldest universities after Oxford and Cambridge. A few schools have proclaimed their place in line. The debate is clouded, because some of the universities existed as colleges for numerous years.
  For instance, the University of Nottingham says it started as an adult education school in 1798 and became a university in 1881, but did not receive its Royal Charter as a university until 1948. Likewise, the School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary, University of London, is not a university; it is a college of the federal University of London.
  
  

Significance

• Oxford has a long list of prominent graduates. It has graduated four British kings and at least eight foreign kings and 28 presidents and prime ministers. There are over 45 Nobel prize-winners, 7 saints, 86 archbishops, 18 cardinals, and 1 pope. In addition, 7 of the last 11 British Prime Ministers were from this school.
  Students and faculty include numerous well-known scientists, artists and noteworthy individuals in almost all career areas. Other graduates consist of scientists Stephen Hawking, Anthony James Leggett, and Tim Berners Lee; actors Hugh Grant, Kate Beckinsale, Dudley Moore and Richard Burton; writers Evelyn Waugh, Lewis Carroll, Aldous Huxley, Oscar Wilde, Percy Shelley, John Donne, and Philip Larkin; adventurers Lawrence of Arabia and Walter Raleigh; and media magnate Rupert Murdoch.