Current Students

Graduate students at Oxford do not have a college tutor, as undergraduates do; instead, they have an academic supervisor, who may be a member of any college within the University. To provide students with a senior member of their own college to turn to for advice and support, St Cross has a system of "College Advisers". Each new student is assigned to a "College Adviser" who will make himself or herself available when the student arrives, introduce him or her to college life and be on hand if there are any problems. Students coming from outside Oxford are also put in touch with one of the present students (as a "Junior Mentor"), to be available in the same way, as a source of practical advice. These arrangements exist for the new students' benefit and are entirely informal, to be used as much or as little as the student wishes.

Taught Courses

The Academic Office will distribute Exam Entry Forms to students on taught courses throughout the academic year as soon as they are received from the University. These will be placed in your pigeonholes for you to collect. You will be notified by email once an Exam Entry Form has been sent for you and you will be advised of the deadline to return these to the Academic Office. The University imposes a £40 charge for the late return of these forms which is payable by the student in question.

Research Students

Throughout your time at Oxford you will need to complete various Graduate Progression (GSO) Forms.

Before presenting any GSO forms to the College please ensure that both you and your supervisor have completed the relevant sections and signed the form.

GSO forms can only be signed by the Academic Administrator Sharon Durno. The forms should be left with the Academic Office for her signature and then left either in your pigeonhole or posted to the Director of Graduate Studies in your department for you. Sharon will endeavour to approve all forms as soon as possible, however please submit any form in good time before any deadline and allow at least 48 hours for it to be signed.

Most GSO forms require additional documentation (detailed in the notes for the ‘reason for request’ section of the form). Please ensure that these together with any medical notes if relevant are submitted with your GSO form to prevent any delays in your application being approved.

All GSO forms can be downloaded here.

The College recognises that some graduate students will want to undertake a limited amount of paid work during their studies, whether as part of their academic development (e.g. teaching and demonstrating) or to help to support themselves financially. These guidelines aim to ensure that any paid work undertaken does not adversely affect students’ success in their studies or their ability to complete their course on time. In addition, some graduates will have prescribed limits on how many hours’ paid work they can do, which must be observed: for example, graduates funded by research councils and some other scholarships, and those graduates with student visas. Students should be aware that demand for part-time paid work in Oxford often exceeds the amount of paid work available, whether it is academic paid work or other forms of paid work. For this reason, graduate students should not rely on the availability of paid work to fund their University and College fees and their living costs when planning how to finance their studies and completing their Financial Declaration.

Full-time graduate students should generally regard their studies as a full-time occupation of at least 40 hours per week, and should normally be available for all academic commitments during usual working hours (i.e. 9 am to 7 pm on weekdays).  Graduate students on taught courses should regard this as applying to term-time study whilst for students on research courses it applies all year round.

The University and the College therefore recommend that full-time graduate students on a taught course (such as a Master’s) do not undertake more than 8 hours’ paid work each week whilst studying. The number of weeks of full-time study required will depend on the course structure. Students may find they have substantial study commitments in the Christmas, Easter and summer vacations as well as the University’s three full terms of eight weeks each. Students should check the structure of their own course and its implications for any paid work with their department or faculty before taking up any such work.

Students on research courses (such as a DPhil) are advised that any paid work should still allow them to spend at least 40 hours per week for a minimumof 44 weeks of the year on their studies.

Information on the type of visa you require and how to apply before you arrive, also includes advice and requirements for EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals. An explanation about your visa conditions, including working, travel, family visits, renewing, extending, and changes to your student status. 

See more details here.