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University College (in full, the The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford, and colloquially referred to as Univ), is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a contender for being the oldest of the colleges of the university, and is amongst the largest in terms of population. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £90.5m^[1].

Univ was founded by William of Durham in 1249 (not King Alfred as has been claimed in the past), and until the sixteenth century was only open to Fellows studying theology. As Univ grew in size and wealth, its medieval buildings were replaced with a new Front Quad in 1640, followed by the additional Radcliffe Quad by 1719, and the Library was built in 1861. Univ only began to accept female undergraduate students in 1979. It is on the south side of the High Street, between the university's examination schools and Magpie Lane. Queens College, Oxford is directly opposite on the north side of the High Street.

The Master, Lord Butler of Brockwell, was appointed head of an inquiry into the 2003 Iraq War in February 2004. Previous Masters include John Albery, Kingman Brewster, Lord Goodman, Lord Redcliffe-Maud, Arthur Lehman Goodhart, and William Beveridge. It was announced in June 2007 that Lord Butler will be succeeded by Sir Ivor Crewe.

A specially constructed building in the College, the Shelley Memorial, houses a statue by Edward Onslow Ford of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley — a former member of the college, who was expelled for writing The Necessity of Atheism — depicted lying dead on the Italian sea-shore. Rumour has it that the sunken area around the statue was once filled with water and live goldfish as a student prank. Another apparently common student prank involving the statue has been to paint his genitalia bright colours; for this reason, the statue's appendage is somewhat smaller than it used to be.

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• Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister
• Edwin Arnold
• Sir Jeremy Beecham
• William Beveridge
• Robert Boyle Chemist
• Jonathan Bowen
• Robin Butler
• Edmund Cartwright
• Robert Cecil
• Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States of America
• Chelsea Clinton, Daughter of Bill Clinton
• Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare, orientalist and religious thinker
• William de Silva, Ceylonese politician
• Kenneth Diplock
• Paul Foot
• Paul Gambaccini
• Andrew George
• David Gill (economist)
• Maurizio Giuliano, writer and United Nations official
• Philip Hammond
• Bob Hawke, Australian Prime Minister
• Stephen Hawking, physicist
• Michael Hoban
• Gordon Honeycombe, actor & playwright
• Robert Hooke, architect, biologist, discoverer of cells
• Armando Iannucci
• Richard Ingrams
• Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin
• William Jones, discoverer of Sanskrit's relationship to Latin & Greek
• C. S. Lewis, writer, critic, Christian apologist
• Nick Mallett
• Peter McDonald, poet
• Luke McShane
• Cecil Mercer
• Warren Mitchell
• Monier Monier-Williams
• Andrew Motion, British Poet Laureate
• Colin Moynihan
• Sir V. S. Naipaul, writer and Noble laureate
• Nigel Playfair
• John Radcliffe, Royal Physician to William & Mary
• Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor
• David Renton, Baron Renton
• James Ridley, author
• Andrew Robinson
• John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon
• Aubrey de Sélincourt, writer & classicist
• Ernest de Sélincourt, literary critic and editor
• Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet
• Roger Short, former British consul-general to Turkey
• Peter Sissons
• Charles Sorley
• Sophie Solomon
• Stephen Spender, poet and writer
• Adrian Stoop
• Sir Peter Strawson, FBA
• Henry Thrale
• William Weld, former governor of Massachusetts
• Rajiva Wijesinha
• Michael York, actor
• Felix Yusupov
• Andy Zaltzman

See also former students of University College and famous alumni.

See also Fellows of University College.

Univ. has the longest grace of any Oxford (and perhaps Cambridge) College. It is read before every Formal Hall, which takes place every night except Saturday at Univ.

The reading is performed by a Scholar of the College, the same person doing it for a whole week, and whoever is sitting at the head of High Table (typically the Master, but maybe just the most senior Fellow at the table if the Master is not dining). The Scholar says the lines beginning "SCHOL."; the Fellow says the lines beginning "RESP.".

The Scholar does not need to know it by heart, although it is not unusual for people to do so.

GRATIARIUM ACTIO IN COLLEGIO MAGNAE AULAE UNIVERSITATIS QUOTIDIE ANTE MENSAM DICENDA.

SCHOL. Benedictus sit Deus in donis suis.
RESP. Et sanctus in omnibus operibus suis.
SCHOL. Adiutorium nostrum in Nomine Domini.
RESP. Qui fecit coelum et terras.
SCHOL. Sit Nomen Domini benedictum.
RESP. Ab hoc tempore usque in saecula.
SCHOL. Domine Deus, Resurrectio et Vita credentium, Qui semper es laudandus tam in viventibus quam in defunctis, gratias Tibi agimus pro omnibus Fundatoribus caeterisque Benefactoribus nostris, quorum beneficiis hic ad pietatem et ad studia literarum alimur: Te rogantes ut nos, hisce Tuis donis ad Tuam gloriam recte utentes, una cum iis ad vitam immortalem perducamur. Per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum.
RESP. Amen.
SCHOL. Deus det vivis gratiam, defunctis requiem: Ecclesiae, Reginae, Regnoque nostro, pacem et concordiam: et nobis peccatoribus vitam aeternam.
RESP. Amen.

The University College Record is the annual magazine sent to alumni of University College, Oxford each autumn. The magazine provides College news, including clubs and societies such as the University College Players and the Devas Club. News about and obituaries of former students are included at the end of each issue.

Previous editors include Peter Bayley, A. D. M. Cox and Leslie Mitchell. The current editor is Dr Robin Darwall-Smith.

• University College Record, the official annual magazine of University College, Oxford. Issues 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004.

1. ^ Oxford College Endowment Incomes, 1973-2006 (updated July 2007)

• University College Players (college dramatic society)
• University Challenge television programme (winners in 1976)

• University College official website
• Unofficial information
• Univ old members website

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