Portal:University of Oxford

The position of Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford was founded in 1918 shortly after the end of the First World War. Ferdinand Foch, or "Marshal Foch" (pictured), was supreme commander of Allied forces from April 1918 onwards. The chair was endowed by an arms trader, Basil Zaharoff, in Foch's honour; he also endowed a post in English literature at the University of Paris in honour of the British general Earl Haig. Zaharoff wanted the University of Paris to have a right of veto over the appointment, but Oxford would not accept this. The compromise reached was that Paris should have a representative on the appointing committee (although this provision was later removed). In advance of the first election, Stéphen Pichon (the French Foreign Minister) unsuccessfully attempted to influence the decision. The first professor, Gustave Rudler, was appointed in 1920. As of 2014, the chair is held by Michael Sheringham, appointed in 2004. The position is held in conjunction with a fellowship of All Souls College. (Full article...)

Robert Madgwick (1905–1979) was an Australian educationist. Born in North Sydney, New South Wales, Madgwick trained as a schoolteacher before attaining degrees in economics and economic history from the University of Sydney and Balliol College, Oxford. Madgwick gained experience in adult education while working as a lecturer in Sydney's extension program, and he served during World War II as Director of the Australian Army Education Service, which provided adult education services to the Army's 250,000 members. After the war, he guided the New England University College to independence as the University of New England in 1954, becoming its first Vice-Chancellor and presiding over the school's expansion of its curriculum and facilities while promoting closer ties with the local community. Madgwick was an influential proponent of adult learning and extension studies in tertiary education. In recognition of his contributions to education, Madgwick was appointed to the Order of British Empire in 1962 and knighted in 1966. After his retirement, Madgwick served from 1967 to 1973 as Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. (Full article...)

Mansfield College, to the north-east of the city centre near the University Parks, is one of the smaller colleges, with about 210 undergraduates and 80 postgraduates. It was originally founded in 1838 as "Spring Hill College" in Birmingham, as a college for non-conformist students; at that time, only members of the Church of England could obtain degrees at the universities. The Universities Tests Act 1871 abolished religious tests for non-theological degrees at Oxford. Spring Hill moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed in honour of two donors, George and Elizabeth Mansfield. Women were first admitted in 1913. It became a Permanent Private Hall in 1955 and acquired full college status in 1995; its non-conformist aspects have gradually diminished but still remain in the chapel, where services are conducted in that tradition. The principal is the lawyer Helena Kennedy, a former chair of the Human Genetics Commission. Former students include the theologians G. B. Caird and C. H. Dodd, the journalist Stephen Pollard and the German resistance member Adam von Trott zu Solz, executed for his part in the plot to kill Hitler. (Full article...)