Who we are and what we do

St Hilda’s College is an eleemosynary chartered charitable corporation aggregate (meaning it is a corporation created, not for private gain or profit, but for the administration of a charitable trust or for a charitable purpose). It was founded by Dorothea Beale in 1893 as a Hall for Women Students. It received its first Royal Charter in 1926, when it was incorporated under the title “Principal and Council of St Hilda’s College, Oxford”. In 1960, it became a College of the University. The College’s most recent Supplemental Charter, granted in 2007, changed the name of the College to St Hilda’s College in the University of Oxford and permitted the admission of male students.

The College’s main purpose is to provide education and residential accommodation for women and men who are members of the College and the University of Oxford.

The College is registered with the Charity Commission under the Charities Act 2006, with registration number 1137537.  

The College is governed in accordance with its Royal Charter dated 25 July, 2007, its Statutes, and its By-Laws.

The Governing Body of the college comprises the Principal and Fellows. It is constituted and regulated in accordance with the College Statutes, the terms of which are enforceable ultimately by the Visitor, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss. The College Statutes are as made from time to time by order of Her Majesty in Council in accordance with the Royal Charter of 1926, and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act 1923.

The Governing Body determines the on-going strategic direction of the College and regulates its administration and the management of its finances and assets, and sets its By-Laws. It meets under the chairmanship of the Principal and is advised by a range of Standing Committees.

Subject to the oversight of the Standing Committees, the day-to-day running of the College is entrusted to the College Officers.