Welcome to the University of Oxford. People from all walks of life and all parts of the world have been visiting us for nine centuries and we are delighted that via this website you are joining that long tradition. Oxford was the first University in the English-speaking world. Our aim is to remain at the forefront of centres of learning, teaching and research. Oxford’s remarkable global appeal continues to grow. Students from more than a hundred and forty countries and territories make up a student population of over twenty thousand. Over a third comes from outside the United Kingdom. But it is not just longevity and global reach that mark Oxford out and give the University its special character. There is also our distinctive college and tutorial system which underpins a culture of close academic supervision and careful personal support for our outstanding students. Our colleges and halls of which there are more than forty also help to foster the intense interdisciplinary approach that inspires much of the outstanding research achievement of the University and makes Oxford a leader in so many fields. It is an approach especially suited to confronting many of the hugely complex challenges that face us all. That is why we believe that the greater we can make Oxford, the greater its contribution to the well-being of the world you and I share. The Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes, CH Student Life * There are over 20,000 students at Oxford, including 11,765 undergraduates and 8,701 postgraduates. * Oxford has one of the lowest drop-out rates in the UK: figures published in Spring 2010 by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that only 1 per cent of Oxford students dropped out, compared with the national average of 7.2 per cent. * 53 per cent of undergraduates are studying for degrees in the humanities and social sciences, and 44 per cent in the medical, mathematical, physical and life sciences. The remaining 3 per cent are studyin