Students joining St Stephen’s House, all of whom are ‘mature students’ (over 21 years old) fall into two groups:
- Ordinands – men and women studying to become priests in the Church of England
- Graduate students – studying towards post-graduate qualifications such as Masters and Doctorates across a range of subject areas related to the fields of Theology, Education, Oriental Studies and Late Antique and Byzantine Studies.
The student community has historically consisted of approximately 80 students, of whom roughly a quarter were undertaking training for ordination, another quarter were PGCE students, and the rest were graduate students pursuing other qualifications. From September 2023 St Stephen’s House will have the status of an Anglican Theological College and will no longer be a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford, and we will no longer be taking PGCE students: the profile of our student cohorts will be changing.
Our ordinand students either study for University of Oxford degrees or Common Award degrees through the University of Durham. Other students are a diverse mix of ages, nationalities and religious (or non-religious) backgrounds, with a significant proportion of graduate students studying part-time. We welcome the different perspectives and academic interests they bring.
At the college’s core remains the original mission to train priests in the catholic tradition of the Church of England. Our ordinand community includes men and women, both single and married, who bring with them a wide range of academic and professional experience. Many ordinands come to us with experience of studying at degree level, but a good proportion do not, or have been out of education for a long time.
