Trees and buildings in Wadham College
Wadham College gardens.
(Image credit: PS:unlimited / Oxford University Images).

Wadham College

About the college

Wadham College has high academic standards and strong traditions in both humanities and sciences, maintained in an informal and progressive atmosphere.

The college has a reputation for informality and lack of stuffiness. Graduate students generally find a strong sense of community at Wadham College, in which students are treated as individuals and can make friends from a wide variety of backgrounds.

The college's dedicated McCall MacBain Graduate Centre, situated in the heart of the college, forms a central welcoming space for both studying and relaxing as well as for informal meetings and social events.

Wadham College combines its graduate student body (MCR) with its undergraduates (JCR) to form a combined Students’ Union, and graduates play a full part in the life of the college.

The Tutor for Graduates is available for consultation and advice and each graduate student is allocated a College Advisor whose academic interests are close to the student’s own. All graduates are also entitled to apply for financial support for academic-related expenses.

College facilities

Library and IT services

The Wadham Library is a modern and spacious study space run by supportive library staff. It is open 24 hours a day throughout the year. In addition to a comfortable 'beanbag' seating area, there is a discussion room available for group study for up to 16 people. Find out more about the library on the college website. 

College members can connect to the University-wide eduroam network and most rooms have an Ethernet port, which allows connection of a device to the college network. The college IT Team is available to help students during office hours. There are computer rooms on the college site, at Merifield and at the Dorothy Wadham Building.

Printing facilities are available in the computer rooms on the main site and accessible from any personal computer via the college network, with printing costs charged to battels.

Sport, music and college facilities

The large graduate centre is available for the use of all Wadham graduates. It features a common room, with bar, reading area, several networked computers and printer/photocopier, TV room and seminar rooms, relaxation and study space. Also on the main college site graduates have use of the Moser Theatre, the student bar, refectory and gym. 

The college has a sports ground in North Oxford, next to the Merifield accommodation site, and the central college buildings include a gym and courts for squash and badminton. There is a shared college boathouse and punting facilities are available in the summer. The college's reputation in sports is strong across all abilities and levels of engagement. 

Facilities for disabled students

Wadham welcomes disabled students. The college has two Disability Leads, a Disability Co-ordinator, a Tutor for Equality and Diversity and strong links with the University's Disability Advisory Service, to whom any enquiries can be made in confidence. If you think that you might require adaptations to your accommodation on disability grounds, please contact the Disability Co-ordinator.

Welfare

There is a wealth of free and confidential welfare support available at the at Wadham. 

The Welfare Lead and Wadham’s two Welfare Advisors, are available all year round for students to discuss any concerns and receive help accessing support. Wadham’s Lodge is open 24/7 where students can expect a warm welcome and access to Junior Deans who live in Wadham accommodation for out-of-hours support. Wadham’s Nurse is available to consult in term-time.

Peer supporters are fellow students trained to listen to students. There are diverse events that Wadham students can enjoy such as free yoga and brunch, including events organised by the MCR welfare officers. Equalities Fellows, including the Tutor for Welfare, support the interests of Wadham’s students, as do Harassment Advisors in College. Financial support opportunities, from travel grants to hardship funding, are available.

Wadham’s chapel is a calm, peaceful space, as are the college’s outstandingly beautiful grounds.

More information about welfare support at Wadham can be found on the college website.

All Wadham students also have access to free, expert, and confidential University support including Oxford University Counselling Service, Disability Advisory Service, and Sexual Violence and Support Service.

MCR

As members of Wadham Middle Common Room (MCR), the college's graduates have access to some of the most modern and comprehensive MCR facilities in Oxford. The active graduate student committee organises a wide range of social and academic activities during each term, from exchange dinners, guest nights, wine tasting and weekly Welfare teas, to student-subsidised trips to the theatre and graduate seminars where students present and discuss their research.

The graduate committee is friendly and always open to input and suggestions from its members. Graduates are encouraged to be active in all areas of college life. Recent initiatives include an MCR Conference Day for the presentation of research, an annual Supervisors' Dinner, two termly College Advisor Dinners, the appointment of study advisors from the MCR supporting the development of undergraduates' study skills, and a graduate scheme to support the college’s access work with schools and colleges under-represented at Oxford. 

Accommodation and meals

Accommodation

Single accommodation is guaranteed to all full-time first-year graduates who meet the financial and academic conditions of their University offer by 31 July.

Most of the college's rooms for graduate students are located at the college's Merifield site, an accommodation complex of shared flats near the college sports ground, located about 1.5 miles from the main site. Some graduate students are also housed at the college’s Dorothy Wadham Building, located on Iffley Road about 1.5 miles from the college. The college also has a limited number of couples’ flats, located beside the Dorothy Wadham Building. Students at both these sites are supported by a resident manager and a junior dean, and have access to common rooms and laundry facilities on site.

A small number of rooms on the college's main site are available for graduate students, for which priority is given to disabled students, in accordance with need.

Meals

Students who live on the main college site are automatically booked in and charged for dinner on week nights, but can choose to opt out. All flats at Merifield and the Dorothy Wadham Building have fully-fitted communal kitchens. All Wadham graduate students are welcome to take meals in college and to use the fully-fitted communal kitchen in the McCall MacBain Graduate Centre. Graduate students are welcome to dine at High Table at College Advisor Dinners held in Michaelmas and Hilary terms, and those holding Wadham College Senior Scholarships or MCR executive committee membership may do so once a week during full term.

Further information about accommodation and meals at Wadham College is available on the college website.

Courses

This college accepts graduate students for the following courses:


Please note that not all subjects areas or streams of a particular course may be offered by this college. Please see the college information on the relevant course page for further details. For a comprehensive list of all graduate courses available at the University of Oxford, please refer to our courses A-Z listing

Location

Close to the Bodleian Library, the University Science Area, and the city centre, Wadham College has large, quiet grounds with some of the most beautiful gardens in Oxford and a fine early 17th-century quad alongside more modern buildings.

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