St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 undergraduate students, 385 graduate students and 37 visiting students as of December 2020, making it one of the largest colleges in either Oxford or Cambridge.
Designed by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen, the college was built in an egalitarian architectural style that maximises the number of rooms, for academically qualified students who lacked the financial resources to study at Oxford. In September 2023, access to areas of the college was restricted due to safety concerns around the use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
The college developed out of the university's St Catherine's Society; it was granted full status as a college in 1962 by the historian Alan Bullock, who became the first master of the college, and later vice-chancellor of the university. The current master is Kersti Börjars, who took over the role in 2020 and is the college's first female master.
History
St Catherine's College Oxford traces its origins to 1868. In its first iteration, it was established as a delegacy for ('Scholars enrolled in no college or hall'), by university statute on 11 June 1868. This delegacy, informally known as the "Delegacy for Unattached Students", was created in response to the recommendation of a Royal Commission in 1850, that the university be open to a "larger and poorer" sector of the population. The delegacy, by allowing students to enrol without belonging to a college, would enable less affluent men to gain an Oxford education without the costs of college membership.
The delegacy appointed two of its stipendiaries, George Kitchin and George S. Ward, to be known as "Censors", to oversee the education and welfare of the students. Nineteen students matriculated in October 1868 as and were joined throughout the year by another forty, bringing the total number in the first year to 59. Growing quickly, by 1872 the delegacy had admitted 330 students. By 1914, more than 4,000 men had matriculated as non-collegiate students. In 1884, the delegacy was renamed the "Delegacy for Non-Collegiate Students".
In its first days, a room in the university's Old Clarendon Building was allocated for the operations of the delegacy, and with gifts of books from several donors, a library for the unattached students was installed there. These accommodations soon proved inadequate and in 1888, the delegacy was moved to a building in High Street next to the Examination Schools. Here the non-collegiate students, as they were known after 1884, had a library in its own dedicated space and two lecture halls. There was an administration office and rooms for the Censors and tutors. Designed by T. G. Jackson, this building is now the Ruskin School of Art. In 1936, the delegacy moved again, from its outgrown High Street premises to the limestone buildings on St Aldates, south of Christ Church, Oxford which are now part of the Oxford University's Faculty of Music.
By 1956, the society had developed many of the characteristics of an Oxford college and the delegates decided to formalise this change in status by obtaining approval to turn into a fully residential college within the University of Oxford. After acquiring from Merton College, Oxford on part of Holywell Great Meadow for £57,690, monies were sought from the University Grants Committee who also agreed to supply £250,000 towards the building, and additional funds up to £400,000 for all facilities. By 1960, Alan Bullock raised a further £1,000,000 with assistance from two industrialists, Alan Wilson (whom he met by chance on the ) and Sir Hugh Beaver. After a total expenditure of £2.5 million, the college opened in 1962. In 1974, St Catherine's was one of the first men's colleges to admit women as full members, the others being Brasenose, Jesus College, Hertford and Wadham.
In keeping with its complete history, including its earliest incarnation, the college celebrated its 150th anniversary in the academic year 2018–2019, coinciding with the 2018 Ball 'Continuum'. The 50th anniversary of the establishment of the College itself, as a college, was celebrated in 2012.