The History Tomorrow Fund

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The History Tomorrow Fund

In 2017, the Faculty of History has decided to create the History Tomorrow Fund in order to empower us to achieve our goals. We are very much aware of the generosity that many alumni have demonstrated in supporting History within their colleges, and the close links that many maintain with your tutors there. The History Tomorrow Fund exists to enable the Faculty to support History scholars from across the University when they need it most.

Graduate Scholarships

The History Faculty Building in Autumn

In 2017 and 2018 our focus was on improving our support for Graduate Scholarships. Our faculty is one of the leading centres for postgraduate research in History in the UK, and the largest graduate programme in the Humanities Division. Graduate study is vital to History as a discipline, allowing us to advance our knowledge through world-leading research. Our graduate students gain the knowledge and intellectual confidence that equips them to go on to play active roles in every part of society, be that in academia or elsewhere. 

Every year however there is an enormous disparity between the number of high-quality applications we receive, and the amount of funding we are able to offer. We are only able to fund 17% of successful doctoral candidates and 6% of successful master's candidates. As a consequence, every year, some of our best graduate applicants miss out on the opportunity to study at Oxford for lack of funding. In 2016, 52% of students whom we accepted for graduate study in History declined our offer of a place. Figures from across the University show that over 50% of the respondents to our withdrawal survey cite lack of funding as the primary reason why they do not take up their graduate place at Oxford.

Thanks to generous donations, we have so far been able to support two DPhil students to continue their studies. None of this would have been possible without the generous support of our alumni and friends. However, there is much more to be done to ensure that we can continue to attract the most outstanding students, regardless of their background. Every year, some of our best graduate applicants miss out on the opportunity to study at Oxford due to lack of funding.

If you want to help the Faculty support the next generation of Historians, you can give here: https://www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/history

Outreach

In 2019, the Faculty widened it's aims for the funds that come into The History Tomorrow Fund.  Educational inequalities within the UK are made painfully obvious by the task of comparing 17-year-olds’ university applications. It is clear that some applicants have had few opportunities to read demanding history books, to explore historical sources in museums or archives, or to hear inspiring historians speak about exciting new research. For decades, many Oxford history tutors have spent a great deal of time, often working with their colleges, to share their love for history with schools.

Over the last few years, the History Faculty has been developing a more ambitious nationwide programme to try to increase the numbers of students from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds who are able to
make competitive applications to study history at Oxford. With your support we’ll be able to bring more students and especially teachers to Oxford, to share our passion for studying history and to talk with them about what the History Faculty can offer.

If you want to help the Faculty support the next generation of Historians, you can give here: https://www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/history