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Oxbridge
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Oxbridge was originally a fictional composite of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of superior intellectual or social status, emphasising the apparent "difficulty" of gaining admission.
Origins
Although both universities were founded more than seven centuries ago, the term 'Oxbridge' is relatively young.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
Oxbridge was originally a fictional composite of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of superior intellectual or social status, emphasising the apparent "difficulty" of gaining admission.
Meaning
In addition to being a collective term for the two institutions, Oxbridge is often used as shorthand for one or more characteristics that the two universities share:
- They are the two oldest universities in England. Both were founded more than 800 years ago, and continued as England's only universities until the 19th century. Between them they have produced a large number of Britain's most prominent scientists, writers, and politicians, as well as noted figures in many other fields.
- The competition between Oxford and Cambridge also has a long history, dating back to the days when Cambridge was founded by dissident scholars from Oxford, and celebrated to this day in sporting events such as the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
- Each has a similar collegiate structure, whereby the University is a 'co-operative' of its constituent colleges, who are responsible for tutorials and pastoral care.
- They are the top scoring institutions in cross-subject UK university rankings, so they are targetted by ambitious pupils, parents and schools. Some schools promote themselves based on their achievement of Oxbridge offers.
- Oxford and Cambridge have common approaches to undergraduate admissions. Until the mid-1980s entry was typically by sitting special entrance exams. Applications must be made three months early, and are mutually exclusive for first undergraduate degrees (in any one year you can only apply to Oxford or Cambridge, not both). Because most candidates are predicted to achieve top grades at A level, interviews are used to investigate whether the course is well suited to the applicant's interests and aptitudes, and to look for evidence of self-motivation, independent thinking, academic potential beyond the written record and ability to learn through the tutorial system.
The word Oxbridge may also be used pejoratively: as a descriptor of social class (referring to the upper social classes who had in the past dominated the intake of these two universities), or to describe a "pressure-cooker" culture that attracts and then fails to support overachievers "who are vulnerable to a kind of self-inflicted stress that can all too often become unbearable" and high-flying state school students who find "coping with the workload very difficult in terms of balancing work and life" and "feel socially out of [their] depth."
Origins
Although both universities were founded more than seven centuries ago, the term 'Oxbridge' is relatively young. In William Thackeray's novel Pendennis, published in 1849, the main character attends (the fictional) Boniface College, Oxbridge. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this is the first recorded instance of the word, but it did not enter common usage until the middle of the 20th century. This is possibly because until 1832, Oxford and Cambridge were the only universities in England, and the terms "University" or "Varsity" would have sufficed to encompass both universities.
Pendennis also introduces the term Camford as another combination of the university names; "he was a Camford man and very nearly got the English Prize Poem"; although this term has never achieved the same degree of usage as Oxbridge. Virginia Woolf used the term Oxbridge critically in her essay A Room of One's Own. Social critics in the United Kingdom, such as Carole Cadwalladr, also sometimes use "Oxbridge" or "Oxbridge Club" as shorthand for the "old boy network".
When expanded, the universities are almost always referred to as "Oxford and Cambridge", the order in which they were founded. A notable exception is Japan's Cambridge and Oxford Society, probably arising from the fact that the Cambridge Club was founded there first, and also had more members than its Oxford counterpart when they amalgamated in 1905.
Related terms
Other portmanteau words have been derived from the term "Oxbridge". One example is "Doxbridge", an annual inter-collegiate sports tournament between some of the colleges of Durham, Oxford, and Cambridge. The term "Loxbridge" (referring to London, Oxford, and Cambridge) is sometimes used, and was also used as the name of a history conference now referred to as AMPAH. However, such terms are only used for specific groups, and none has achieved widespread use.
See also
External links
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