<p>What would happen if Harvard used it's endowment better? What ways can Harvard use it to better them and give them an advantage? If Oxford had a $35 billion dollar endowment how would that better oxford, what would change and what would Oxford be like? Can Oxford have a large competitive endowment? If so, can it be like Harvard's? (Can it catch up and be near it) Oxford has a total of $7 billion dollar endowment as of now, and it's endowment campaign started 4/5 years go, that's a good solid number and if it continues at that right can it be done or close. I have concerns for oxford because it is a jewel that is slipping and it is losing it's thunder. I worry if oxford would have no future and simply become a thing of the past, and no longer become a competitive school that. What are you thoughts on this? Can oxford give Harvard a run for it's money? Can oxford become an even bigger force than it already is now if certain actions are taken and if it's endowment increases?</p>
<p>It is a very American trait to be obsessed with being better than everyone else (preferably to the detriment of everyone else), and in particular to equate “bigger” with “better”. I very much doubt whether Oxford sees it’s role to compete Harvard out of existence. Especially it is not competing for American students. Statistically very few Americans enroll in overseas universities. Also, US schools attract different types of students to UK ones. If you have come from a US high school background, the UK university system is pretty difficult. I always advise students only to choose the UK system if they are very focused on one subject and know they will not want to switch courses. For many very brilliant students this is not a good fit for them. I do not think this is detrimental to the students or to Oxford in any way. The world is full of variety and that’s a good thing. </p>
<p>Looking at you other posts it appears you are a parent advising young relatives (nephews?) on college choice. I would advise you to stop obsessing over which university in the world is number 1 (in the opinion of random biased league tables which change every year. I bet league tables in China for example look somewhat different to any in the English-speaking world) and look for somewhere your relatives will be happy and is a good fit for them. If they get into number 1 university, and the following year that university is rated number 2, this will not ruin anyone’s life!</p>
<p>The UK and US systems of funding higher education are very different, and so it makes endowments less of a necessity. </p>
<p>In the UK, all undergraduates are eligible for government loans to cover the cost of tuition, and a combination of loans and grants for living costs, also from the government and on a means tested basis. For that reason, the need to provide large scholarships and bursaries to undergraduates, and therefore the need to fund these through a large endowment is removed. Although smaller (£3000 at the top end) bursaries are provided to those from the poorest families, these are usually funded from tuition fees and so do not impact on the endowment. </p>
<p>There is also less of a culture of large philanthropic gifts in the UK. Tax rates are higher (20% basic rate on income above ~£7500, 40% on income above ~£35,000) and so the government is able to a basic standard of living for all. We tend not to be believers in Republican-style small government, and it has often been said that the NHS is the second religion in the UK - it is (despite the fact that it is far from perfect!) universally popular - all Britons have either had their life saved by the NHS, or they know someone close to them who has. Due to the lesser culture of large philanthropic gifts, it is arguably harder to build up an endowment - but for the reasons stated above it is far less necessary. </p>
<p>As cupcake said, Oxford is unlikely to have much desire to start competing with Harvard. It is already very good at what it does - it attracts the best students and academics from the UK and abroad, it produces acres of world-leading research each year, and it has a system of teaching (the tutorial system) that is recognised as being very rigorous - and very rare around the world. </p>
<p>Oxford has been one of the world’s best providers of education since its foundation in 1096. I doubt it is going anywhere soon - and if it was, then you certainly wouldn’t be able to tell through league tables, which are some of the most subjective pieces of nonsense I have ever seen masquerading as fact.</p>
<p>Thank you, boomting and cupcake for the information. I am not obsessed which college is number 1, i just want the best for my nephews because they come from a big Hispanic family and they are the two of the three people going to college. I am one of five siblings and my husband is one of sixteen. None of us went to college, so i am overwhelmed with joy. The third who is the first in college right now is my son, who seeks to go to Cornell because he is unhappy sadly, but thank you both for the valuable information.</p>
<p>Save your joy for if they get in. It is statistically unlikely. You should probably search these boards for information about “safety schools”. However amazing your nephews are, applying for only extremely selective colleges is a recipe for trouble. They may be rejected from all of them.</p>
<p>For someone to get into EITHER an Oxbridge University OR an Ivy League University when they come from a family that never went to college is absolutely amazing, and an astounding achievement. The argument about which of these schools is the “best” can never be resolved, but I think there would be general agreement that these schools are as a group the best in the world.</p>
<p>Oxford and Cambridge probably do seem “quaint” and “old-fashioned” and relics of a bygone era to many Americans, and even to many British. But like many British institutions, they derive their strength and their excellence from these deep roots, and people go there to study because they are attracted to their long heritage. If that is not the sort of the thing that attracts you, if instead you are put off by this and prefer everything to be “modern”, that Oxford or Cambridge are probably not the universities for you.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>As regards endowments, people forget that because of Oxbridges medieval roots, these institutions own a lot of stuff. The endowments of Oxford and Cambridge are around £4 and £4,4 billion respectively, but both universities own land that worth billions of pounds. Cambridge is the third largest landowner in the UK and when Oriel College, Oxford University sold a part -!- of its land it was for £93 million. One (albeit ancient) college, from 38.</p>
<p>That is a large sum of money for land. Do you happen to know the two largest landowners in the UK? When Cambridge or Oxford sell a portion of it’s land, is it in a similar manner to Stanford? I think Stanford rents the land due to the founders decreeing that the 8,000 acres of land may not be sold, but rented.</p>
<p>I don’t really understand why the amount of land owned by a college in important in college selection, but you can easily find the answer to your question using google.</p>
<p>I agree that Oxbridge’s wealth is in assets rather than endowments. Cambridge have at least one van Gogh on the wall for example, and though it would raise some cash selling Kings College Chapel to a theme park might not be socially acceptable at this point.</p>
<p>As a fact of matter the two largest landowners in the UK are the Crown and the Church. Cambridge comes third, Oxford probably 4th or 5th. Selling Kings Chapel is a wonderful idea indeed, but it would be better to sell Kings altogether.</p>
<p>What? Sell King’s College? I can see the signs now, “King’s College…Brought to You by Coca-Cola.”</p>
<p>Some of the Americans here may not understand why the Brits consider “King’s College–brought to you by Coca-Cola” a bad thing.</p>
<p>This is really about the cultural differences between the U.S. and the U.K. In the U.S. the values are all oriented towards the “modern” and to “big business” (like Coca-Cola) and so on. It may be hard for someone who has lived their whole lives in a country like that to understand the values of such a different country, where the biggest landowners are medieval institutions–“The Crown”, “The Church”, and the medieval university of Cambridge. (Alright, the historians are free to argue with me that the Crown and the Church actually have roots that go back to earlier than even the medieval period . . .)</p>
<p>Yes, there are also things in Britain that are more “modern” and “big business”, but even those the British people often consider to be “rather American”.</p>
<p>One of the reasons for any person from any country to consider living in a different country, whether as a student or otherwise, is precisely to expose themselves to a different set of cultural values, so they can understand that the values of their own country are not the only way of looking at the world.</p>
<p>When an American moves to Britain, they encounter a very different culture that has roots that go back to time immemorial, and that believes that celebrating and preserving those roots is very important (while at the same time incorporating the modern–this valuing the old and the new together I think makes Britain similar to Japan). So for example if you go to university at Oxford or Cambridge, you will have tutorials and lectures, and I think possibly (probably?) live in, medieval buildings. Nobody says “Hey, lets tear down all these old buildings and build something more modern!!”. That’s not the British cultural values.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>You would be surprised… If you’re a member of an ancient college at either Oxford or Cambridge, you can indeed live in wonderful medieval buildings, but you can choose modern accommodation too. A matter of taste, really. However, both Universities did demolish countless buildings over the years, until the late 19th century simply because they wanted something bigger and nicer. But even today, both Universities destroy lovely Victorian villas to build something…bigger…more modern…
As an example [Cambridge</a> 2000: university: West Road: Alison Richard Building, 7](<a href=“http://www.cambridge2000.com/cambridge2000/html/2011/PC2318537.html]Cambridge”>Cambridge 2000: university: West Road: Alison Richard Building, 7) . Click on the “Victorian vila”…The University demolished dozens of such villas during the last ten or so years, to build new departments. Preserving heritage…after the war and during the 60s, thousands of mainly Victorian buildings were demolished just to build some rather terrible concrete. Of course, there are quite a few Victorian villas left in the UK. In the US, however, these would be considered national treasure</p>
<p>The reason why i asked about the land is because, i wanted to know how Oxbridge are going to use it. I don’t think they should sell land or any college, but rent out it’s land like Stanford. I believe that if it goes the same route, than Oxbridge can increase their endowments exponentially, which is a wonderful idea. Notice how Stanford’s endowment increased by renting some of it’s land, and of course other things, but it really contributed none the less. It is not important to me how much money a college has, but it’s interesting for me because i am curious to see how the schools in the UK would implement this endowment system/method. I for one don’t want Oxbridge to sell anything off because it is like taking a piece of history away, and renting land provides constant revenue for the university, which leads to new heights, do more things, stabilization,etc. It is always good to push the envelope in my opinion, and there can always be improvements. (when i say improvements, it is not in a bad way. Look at Harvard, it is a wonderful college, but student life seems to be unhappy at the undergrad level, and us humans as a whole seek to better ourselves in a variety of ways, so improvement can help which ever university that seeks it.)</p>
<p>They do redevelop and/or sell off small parts of land. Here’s an example of what Cambridge is planning to do with some of its land in the next few years: [University</a> Planning Application](<a href=“http://www.scambs.gov.uk/CommunityandLiving/NewCommunities/MajorDevelopments/NorthWestCambridge/application.htm]University”>http://www.scambs.gov.uk/CommunityandLiving/NewCommunities/MajorDevelopments/NorthWestCambridge/application.htm)</p>
<p>However, I think much of Oxford and Cambridge’s land is currently open to the public in the form of meadows, public parks, botanic gardens etc; it’s difficult for them to sell it or close large parts of it off indefinitely. In order to do so they would need to show it was in the public interest. </p>
<p>I live near one of the UK’s oldest and richest boarding schools. The school owns large amounts of land in and around the city, including a huge nature reserve. There would be public uproar if they restricted access to it. Yes, they own it - but they are part of a wider community and I believe they have a duty to consider the community’s needs.</p>
<p>It’s the same for Oxford and Cambridge. They are not self-contained campuses; they are communities within communities.</p>
<p>College972,</p>
<p>Oxford and Cambridge do NOT support your American values. They will not be managing their land exactly the way you want them to. Their values are more British, like those expressed in Laylah’s post just above.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a University that is all about American values, do NOT go to Oxford or Cambridge.</p>
<p>Oh my…selling a college was a joke. The Oxbridge colleges are independent, charitable institutions on their own right, so there’s no way to sell them.</p>
<p>Some parts of the land are indeed meadows (Christ Church meadow, anyone?) and land around the cities of Cambridge and Oxford, but most of it is on the countryside all over England.</p>
<p>My American values are for sale to the highest bidder.</p>
<p>I am not telling Oxford or Cambridge to sell anything, it’s quite the opposite, since selling anything would take away from their history. I am just stating what Stanford has done, and continues to do. Oxford and Cambridge have recently adopted the endowment system/method, which they adopted for certain reasons, and is an American method. I don’t see it as the American way, it’s just like when someone say’s you are acting Hispanic or Black. I see it as if one method fails you try another until one of them fits the interests of the university.</p>
<p>I see what laylah is saying, and i agree with that. I expressed the idea of renting land that they are able too, because once you sell that particular land to a buyer, it is no longer yours. I cannot go to school i am 52 years old, that ship has sailed off long ago. I am an American, but i would prefer schooling in the UK.</p>