Westminster College, Oxford - History

History

Westminster College was founded at Horseferry Road in Westminster, London, in 1851 and originally specialised in the training of teachers for Methodist schools. Its neo-Gothic buildings were requistioned during World War I and used as a station for Australian servicemen, during which time the College ceased to function. The site was severely damaged by an incendiary bomb during the blitz of early World War II, and the buildings were never repaired. They were demolished in the 1960s and the headquarters of the television station Channel 4 now stand on the site.

In 1951, Westminster College moved to a purpose-built campus on Harcourt Hill, Oxford, which is noted for its fusion of Oxford quads with a "New England" style of architecture, evident particularly in the large and distinctive chapel.

Following the move, the college began to offer a number of Theology and Education degrees which were validated by the Council for National Academic Awards (the CNAA). When this was scrapped following the 1992 Education Act, the college entered an academic partnership with the University of Oxford allowing Westminster students to read for degrees of the University. NOTE: This is not correct. Degrees were those of the University of Oxford until, in what many people felt was a singularly ill-judged action, Westminster parted from the University of Oxford. After that, the degrees were validated by the CNAA until the union with Oxford Brookes. Further, academic subjects while linked with Oxford University were far wider than simply Theology and Education.

Westminster College was not a full college of the University of Oxford. However, those who read for University degrees were entitled to become members of Oxford University Student Union and life members of the Oxford Union, as well as to attend all lectures at the University. Students received their notification of degree results from the University, not the College, and all examination papers and dissertations were marked by the University. Degree certificates were those of the University of Oxford in toto and included the coats of arms of both Westminster College and the University of Oxford. Graduation ceremonies were presided over by the Vice-Chancellor in the Sheldonian Theatre according to the usual form, with slight modifications to allow for the fact that students had not matriculated. Thus, they are nonetheless Oxford graduates. A similar status still devolves onto students reading for University of Oxford degrees at Ripon College Cuddesdon.

In 2000, financial pressures prompted the Methodist Church to cease operations, although existing students were permitted to continue studying for their degrees through the University of Oxford. A deal was struck to lease the Harcourt Hill site to Oxford Brookes University, and the college buildings became the Westminster Institute of Education, a school of Oxford Brookes University, thus continuing the use of the Westminster name. In addition to housing the Westminster Institute of Education, other subjects such as Theology, Philosophy, and Media and Communication are also taught at what is now Oxford Brookes University's Harcourt Hill campus.