A once-in-forever opportunity
For nearly a century, Regent’s has shaped minds and nurtured a community unlike any other in Oxford. We have created something truly distinctive: a place where academic excellence combines with genuine warmth, where twice-daily Brew brings students together over free tea and biscuits and where the student-run bar remains the cheapest in the city.
Regent’s has been co-educational since 1919, when Violet Hedger became the first woman admitted – decades before many of Oxford’s oldest colleges followed.
That instinct for doing things differently endures. With fewer students than other colleges, our tutors know every student not just academically, but personally. This is a place that changes lives.
Now as we celebrate 100 years in Oxford, we have an historic opportunity: to become a full college of the University of Oxford.
This is the fulfilment of a journey that began in 1752, with the radical vision of providing education to those excluded from traditional universities. It is recognition of a century in which Regent’s made its mark in ways that far exceeded its size, not least stepping in when other permanent private halls closed their doors. It is an opportunity that, if missed, may not return. Other PPHs – institutions like ours, operating within the University but without the permanence of collegiate status – have already ceased to exist. We must not let that happen to Regent’s.
What collegiate status means
- For our College | Permanence and equality: Regent’s will be a college of the University of Oxford in perpetuity.
- For our students | Applicants to Regent’s will be applying to a college, they will study at a college and they’ll graduate from a college, full stop. No explanations, no footnotes, no need for anyone to clarify what a PPH is or how it differs, or doesn’t, from any other Oxford college. As Regent’s moves towards becoming a college, we will review the student experience and improve it where we need to.
- For our academics | Parity with academic colleagues across the University, including access to research support and the security needed to pursue long-term projects. It will also elevate Regent’s standing, strengthening our ability to attract exceptional students and scholars. For the first time, we will be able to benefit from joint appointments within the University.
How your gift makes a difference
Because Regent’s has only a third of the alumni of other colleges, every donation truly counts. The University and other donors will look not just at the amount raised, but at the proportion of alumni who participate. When you give, you do more than contribute financially: you stand alongside other alumni and friends in showing that Regent’s matters, that this community is united and that we are ready to become a college. Every gift strengthens our case.
What we need to achieve
To become a college, Regent’s needs an endowment of £25 million. We currently have £9 million. That leaves £16 million to raise, which represents the most ambitious fundraising effort in our history.
Over the past decade, we have managed our finances with great care and steadily grown our endowment. In the last three years, we have been preparing in earnest for becoming a college: appointing a Director of Studies as a Fellow of the College in every subject, expanding the Academic Office, and strengthening welfare provision and the student experience. With these foundations in place, now is the time to act.
Your support will enable Regent’s to:
- Guarantee academic excellence by increasing the endowment in all subjects.
- Ensure an equivalent student experience so that our students share the same opportunities as their peers at other Oxford colleges.
- Preserve our historic home by completing critical renovations to Main Block, Wheeler Robinson, and Gould.
- Secure our independence and future with the financial stability that only a strong endowment can provide.
How to give
Online: www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/regents-park-college
By phone: +44 (0)1865 288119
International tax efficient giving is available – please contact the Development Office for more details.