The collegiate system is an essential virtue of Durham University and should not be abandoned
Studying at Durham University, I am all too aware of the idea that all our students are Oxbridge rejects. Actually, available data estimates the number to be around 30-40 per cent. But what makes Durham a university that draws in students who, even if they did not apply to Oxford or Cambridge, feel it bears striking similarities to them?
Aside from being similarly historic — Durham is the third oldest university in England — Durham’s key appeal, at least for myself and those I know, is the Collegiate system. At Durham this entails 17 colleges, each with “its own character and traditions… the cornerstone of our extraordinary wider student experience, and each one provides an inspiring and supportive community.” This quote comes from the University’s own website, which proudly boasts of the unique variety of colleges — and of the charm they each have. And yet, for such an important part of a Durham student’s life, central management has allowed the system to cut and squeeze colleges such that they are sickly and unrecognisable.
Durham’s collegiate system has never quite lived up to that of its Oxford or Cambridge counterparts. This is due in part to how academics seldom have been a part of colleges. Yet I believe that has been a benefit, not a flaw in Durham’s model. Academics and seminars have no bearing in the walls of a college, which is instead the hub of wider student life. This has allowed colleges to be the centre of most of what is memorable for students. Durham Colleges organises socials and balls, most of the sports teams, and provide welfare and housing support. A large part of these activities are partly, if not entirely, student led. The point to make here, is that whilst Durham’s Collegiate system is similar in many ways to others, it has always been its own thing.
In comparison to the Oxbridge model, where colleges are founded with a high level of independence, and integrated into the wider system, Durham has always mostly founded colleges by central decree at times when they have wanted to expand student numbers. This has had the consequence of pushing students out of college accommodation, should they not be in their first year, in favour of dumping more accommodation needs onto the private rental market. This has dramatically weakened (though not yet entirely killed) the influence of Colleges for students after their first year, who do not get the experience of mixing with their older college peers.
In 2019, there was a major re-structuring of Durham Colleges that made the management and financial system standardised, removing independent budgets and catering. This was all done in the name of wanting to make the college experience the same for all — as if it was for egalitarian rather than budgetary purposes.
The financial struggles of the university undoubtedly have a myriad of causes such as a reduced number of international students and largely unchanged fees for domestic students. However, Durham’s collegiate framework makes up the large majority of wider student experience, much of which is organised through voluntary JCR roles and other committee work. By centralising more and more colleges, not only is the general appeal of Durham’s colleges weaker, but it also degrades the framework by which existing students are able to put on events, such as formals and balls. For example, cuts to catering have meant that formals at some colleges have gone from twice a week (pre-Covid) to once a week (post-Covid) to every other week following the most recent cuts in Catering staff. This has meant that balls are more often having to seek external catering, if not already being entirely external.
How individual members of staff believe that they can continue to chew away at their once-revered Collegiate system and still retain a high-status university on the competitive international stage is beyond me.
We need to protect the collegiate system as an idea, which enables individuals to choose a learning environment best suited to them, whether that be traditional vs modern, sport vs drama, etc. Colleges, varying in budget, management structure and applicants, should not be seen as defects or eccentricities but as central strengths.
I’d advise you to check in with your old college and see how they’re doing, while you still can
Durham’s high calibre of academic success can surely be attributed in large part to its having high-achieving applicants drawn from around the country, and the world, by the appeal of a college system. If the system gets sliced down further, Durham will be collegiate only by name — similar to York, where colleges are highly centralised, essentially functioning like a first-year-sorting-hat where the appeal is so diminished as to mean very little to students beyond their freshers’ year.
This is without mentioning that colleges have the potential to be extremely lucrative in alumni fundraising. You are surely more likely to be persuaded to donate to your old sports team or to revamp your old accommodation than you are to be by corporate and centralised campaign, which is betting on you caring more about your uni as a whole than your specific college If you’re a Durham alum, I’d advise you to check in with your old college and see how they’re doing, while you still can.
