The two most important facts in the history of the university since 1911 have been the World War and the two commissions. In the war 14,561 Oxford men served in the British forces, and 2,66o lost their lives. Again, thanks to the O.T.C., nearly 2,000 Oxford men received commissions in the first two months of the war, while for the last three years of the war, there always were nearly 2,000 cadets in Oxford. The examination schools and those colleges which were not given up to cadets became hospitals. The number of undergraduates f ell to 1,087 in Jan. 1915, and 550, 46o and 369 in the same months in 1916, 1917 and 1918 re spectively. The tide began to turn in the latter part of 1918; in Jan. 1919 there were 1,357 men in residence; and in the f ol lowing 18 months the entries were so heavy that by Oct. 192o there were about 4,500 men and 65o women actually in residence. Since that time, all the men's colleges have striven to reduce their numbers; so that the figures for undergraduates were, in 1928, about 3,500 men and 750 women. Women, in 192o, were admitted as full members of the university, but a statute was passed in 1927 limiting their number to one-fourth that of men.
The aim of the commissions especially was to encourage re search work. The growth of this was already a marked feature in Oxford. To encourage it, the degrees of Bachelor of Letters and Bachelor of Science were set up in 1895, the Doctorate of Philosophy in 1917; the regulations for the B.Litt. have now been (1927-28) remodelled in the light of experience. In the examination, too, for the honours degree in natural science, stu dents of chemistry can only obtain a class if they spend a year on a piece of research. Probably the most important proposal in the new statutes is the setting apart, out of the Government grant, of an annual sum of LI o,000 to assist college lecturers, who will be appointed by the boards of the faculties to be also "university lecturers," carrying out some special work.
Apart from this grant, the most important changes have been: (I) The full enjoyment of college scholarships will be limited to those in need of financial help; the election, however, will be made by colleges as before, and entirely on intellectual grounds.
(2) All professors are made ex officio fellows and members of the governing bodies of colleges. But these changes only make statutory and universal what was already done in most colleges.
(3) A retiring age is fixed for all posts, whether college or uni versity. A pension scheme has also been instituted. (4) The machinery of university government has been changed. The Heb domadal Council is now made representative of the whole uni versity, not of separate orders of members, and congregation is to consist entirely of those doing university work, whether teach ing or administrative. These changes again had been largely anticipated by university action since 190o. (5) The power of convocation to override congregation is practically abolished. This change is more important in theory than in practice ; the one subject on which convocation had interfered decisively—the re fusal to open theological degrees to members of all denominations —had been settled by agreement in 192o. (6) The general board of faculties, set up in Lord Curzon's reform of 1913, has been made more representative of the whole university, and given fuller power over its studies. The financial machinery of Oxford had been already remodelled by statutes passed in 1912 and 192o.
On the whole it may be said that the essential principle of Oxford life, the independence of colleges, has been maintained. The university can advise as to college elections and appoint ments, and make general rules, but colleges retain their full pow ers of election and administration.