Thanks to an anonymous gift from an Old Member of Queen’s College and a Friend of University College, the two colleges are delighted to announce the creation of a visiting professorship to mark the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) degree at Oxford University.
This shared gift, which also contains additional funding for a generous living stipend, will endow a visiting professorship that rotates annually between the two colleges and the individual subjects.
The Centenary Visiting Professorship will become a key feature in both colleges’ undergraduate teaching and research programmes, and each looks forward to being able to welcome some of the world’s top academic talent in each of the subjects to Oxford from the 2023-24 academic year.
Dr Claire Craig, Provost of Queen’s College, said: ‘The college is deeply grateful for the donation to endow this important visiting professorship and to mark the 100th anniversary of PPE at Oxford. Queen’s is committed to making its intellectual environment and community as open, international, and diverse as possible. Thanks to the generosity and vision of this Old Member we will be able to attract even more of the world’s top academic talent to Oxford, helping to shape the worldviews of future generations of students as they prepare to make their own marks in the world.’
Baroness Valerie Amos, Master of University College, said: ‘On the 100th anniversary of the study of PPE at Oxford, this Centenary Visiting Professorship is aimed at attracting the world’s leading scholars. Univ has a long history of academic excellence in PPE and we are proud that so many outstanding students have studied here, including former Presidents Festus Mogae and Bill Clinton. My thanks to the lead donor for this generous gift which ensures that we will continue to welcome academics of international standing in the years to come.’
The donor has made this gift in recognition of ‘Oxford’s renowned PPE course attracting some of the world’s finest academics to the University during the last 100 years,’ and with the expectation that ‘this new visiting professorship is designed to ensure that this continues for generations to come.’
About the colleges:
Founded in 1341, The Queen’s College is one of the oldest constituent colleges of Oxford University. It is a registered charity and an independent, self-governing body with approximately 330 students reading for undergraduate degrees and 190 graduate students. The college has around 60 academic staff dedicated to the pursuit of academic excellence and cultivating a community of open-minded thinkers.
University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, and colloquially referred to as "Univ",) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1249 by William of Durham.