History of the College

A fully fledged history of the College is currently being written by Dr David E. Butler and Professor A.H. Halsey. This will detail the development of the College and try to assess the impact of the College on the Social Sciences and the University of Oxford.

In the meantime, the following gives a very brief non-academic history.

Nuffield College, which was founded in 1937, is located in the centre of Oxford. The College was the first Oxford College to have (i) a subject specialisation, (ii) to admit both men and women as students and academics, (iii) to be graduate only. The College buildings were designed by Austen Harrison. His plans were approved in 1940 but the College was not built until the mid 1950s. The College was originally funded by William Morris (Lord Nuffield) a local businessman who founded Morris Motors Ltd. In the late 1950s additional resources to complete the buildings were provide by the Nuffield Foundation, a seperate charity also setup by Lord Nuffield.