There is some evidence to suggest that schools existed in Oxford by the eartly 12th century. By the end of the 12th century, a university was well established, perhaps resulting from the barring of English students from the University of Paris around 1167. Oxford was modeled on the University of Paris, with initial faculties of theology, law, medicine, and the liberal arts.

In the 13th century the university gained added strength, particularly in theology, with the establishment of several religious orders in Oxford, principally Dominicans and Franciscans. The university had no buildings in its early years; lectures were given in hired halls or churches. The various colleges of Oxford were originally boarding houses for impoverished scholars. They were intended primarily for masters or bachelors of arts who needed financial assistance to enable them to continue study for a higher degree. The earliest of these colleges, University College, was founded in 1249. Balliol College was founded about 1263, and Merton College in 1264.

From the 13th century, the university gained charters from the crown and in 1571 an act of Parliament led to the incorporation of the university. By the latter part of the 17th century, interest in scientific studies had increased substantially. In the 19th century the university’s enrollment and its professorial staff were greatly expanded. The first women’s college at Oxford, Lady Margaret Hall, was founded in 1878, and women were first admitted to full membership in the university in 1920. In the 20th century Oxford’s curriculum was also modernized, with science being taken much more seriously and many new faculties being added, including ones for modern languages and economics.

Oxford has been associated with many of the greatest names in British history, from John Wesley and Cardinal Wolsey to Oscar Wilde and Sir Richard Burton and Cecil Rhodes and Sir Walter Raleigh. Prime ministers who studied at Oxford include William Pitt the Elder, George Canning, Sir Robert Peel, William Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, H.H. Asquith, Clement Atlee, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, and Margaret Thatcher. Among the many notable writers associated with the university are Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Oxford houses two renowned scholarly institutions, the Bodleian Library and the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, as well as the Museum of the History of Science (established 1924). The Oxford University Press, established in 1478, is one of the largest and most prestigious university publishers in the world.