Oxford is both a university and a city. Colleges, departments, and libraries are interspersed with shops, offices, houses and all the other features of a busy commercial city. It is a city of great architectural and natural beauty; the historic facades and spires of churches and colleges, world-famous libraries and museums dominate the ancient and narrow streets. Oxford city prides itself on its parks, gardens and green spaces. In the spring and summer especially college gardens with their great trees and beautiful banks of flowers offer a restful recess to students and visitors alike. The River Thames winds through the heart of the city at Christ Church Meadow.

The University is an ancient one which has grown in complex ways over 800 years. But this long process of change and development, while always trying to retain the best of the past, has meant that Oxford is at once very old and very new. Oxford is proud of a long tradition of excellence and this can make it a competitive place.

Unlike most universities, the University of Oxford is organised as a federation of independent colleges, about 40 in all, each with its own teaching faculty, undergraduate (in most cases) and postgraduate student body, and all the usual facilities of an educational institution (library, dining hall, student common rooms and residences). Each college has a strong corporate character, running its own sports teams and other societies: the size (typically about 50 teaching staff and 400 undergraduates) contributes strongly to Oxford's unique character. The college system at Oxford promotes close relations between student and tutor and provides a small, friendly environment where you will meet students from all disciplines, unlike other universities where students often tend to be more faculty-based.

The University itself coordinates the work of the colleges, providing central libraries, laboratories and world class research institutes for the use of college students, and supervising degree courses and the appointment of University Professors, each of whom is also linked to a particular college.

Through this system, Oxford has combined the intimacy and traditions of the ancient colleges with the academic standards to be expected from a large, modern and competitive university.