, the oldest of the 17 Durham Colleges Durham operates a collegiate structure similar to that of the
University of Oxford and the
University of Cambridge, in that all colleges at Durham, being constituent colleges of a "recognised body", are "listed bodies" in the Education (Listed Bodies) (England) Order 2013 made under the Education Reform Act 1988. The "recognised body" in this case is Durham University. Though most of the Durham colleges are governed and owned directly by the University itself, and so do not enjoy the independence of colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, the status of the Durham colleges is similar to those in Oxford and Cambridge, setting Durham colleges apart from those at the universities of
Kent,
Lancaster, and
York. However, unlike at Oxford and Cambridge (and federal universities such as
London and the
University of the Highlands and Islands), there is no formal teaching at most Durham colleges (although St John's and St Chad's have their own academic and research staff and offer college-based programmes in conjunction with the University). The colleges dominate the residential, social, sporting, and pastoral functions within the university, and there is heavy student involvement in their operation. - where some colleges are situated
Formal dinners (known as "formals") are held at many colleges;
gowns are often worn to these events. There is a great deal of intercollegiate rivalry, particularly in
rowing and other sporting activities. There is also rivalry between the older colleges of the
Bailey and the newer colleges of the Hill.
Types of college The university is collegiate in structure. There are two different sorts of college: maintained colleges and societies, and recognised colleges. There were previously also licensed halls of residence, and affiliated colleges. • Maintained colleges are governed directly by, and are financially dependent on, the university. Their principals are appointed by the university council and their staff are employed by the university. • Recognised colleges (
St John's and
St Chad's) are 'recognised' as colleges of the University but are incorporated as separate institutions. They are governed, financed and managed independently of the university and are educational charities in their own right. However, as a condition of their ongoing recognition by the university, the university council must approve the appointment of their principals and be notified of changes to their constitutions. The regulations as to the approval of principals and changes to their constitutions applied to licensed halls in the same way as to recognised colleges. • Affiliated colleges were treated under the former statute 39, rather than under the former statutes 14 & 15 like the other colleges. This stated that council might, on the recommendation of Senate, recognise any college as an affiliated college. Previous affiliated colleges included
Codrington College in
Barbados,
Fourah Bay College in
Sierra Leone (now part of the
University of Sierra Leone), and Sunderland Technical College (now the
University of Sunderland). Affiliated colleges were not generally considered part of the collegiate structure of the university. The university validates degrees at other colleges not recognised under any of the above categories. Current arrangements include the validation of the
Church of England's
Common Award at a number of theological colleges. The
Royal Academy of Dance also used to teach courses leading to degrees validated by Durham.
Hill and Bailey Most colleges can be classified into two groups: Bailey colleges, located on
Durham's peninsula around
Durham Cathedral, and Hill colleges on Elvet Hill on the other side of the river.
Ustinov College, the university's sole postgraduate-only college, is based at Sheraton Park on the same side of the city as Elvet Hill but further from the city centre, which was formerly the home of
Neville's Cross College. Some colleges also have accommodation in other parts of the city, most notably St Cuthbert's Society, which has its headquarters on the Bailey but its largest accommodation blocks at the end of
Old Elvet, across the river from St Hild and St Bede.
Planned colleges The university announced in 2017 its intention to build four to six new colleges by 2027. The first of these,
South College, opened in 2020 on the
Mount Oswald site, alongside a new home for
John Snow College which relocated from
Queen's Campus in 2018. In 2023, the university announced that it planned to work with the owners of
Rushford Court, a private hall of residence, to equip the site with college facilities, to serve as a temporary home for the
College of St Hild and St Bede during renovation of its own site, then to become the university's eighteenth college once Hild Bede returned to its own buildings. In May 2024, the university also announced the building of Durham's 19th college, scheduled to start in 2025 neighbouring Hild Bede.
College architecture The colleges built on Elvet Hill each have their own distinctive
architecture. The first college built in the area, St Mary's in 1952, was designed by
Vincent Harris and has been described as both
neo-Georgian and
domestic-classical. It set a "colleges-in-a-green-landscape" tone that was followed by the other hill colleges, even while their architectural styles varied widely. The next, Grey College (1959) was designed by T. Worthington of
Thomas Worthington and Sons. It was built of brick in a
domestic Georgian style, and has been called the most architecturally disappointing of the post-war colleges, looking like "a mature suburban housing estate". After this, the remainder of the postwar colleges were built in a variety of
modernist styles. The architect for the concrete St Aidan's College was Sir
Basil Spence; the original design called for the
brutalist dining hall to be balanced by a chapel, but this was never built. Van Mildert College by Middleton, Fletcher and Partners follows a "conventional modern idiom" with a formal layout around the lake, serrated blocks and cloistered walks. Another, very different, example of functionalist architecture is found at Trevelyan College, where its hexagonal forms, designed by
Stillman and Eastwick-Field, won a
Civic Trust Award in 1968. Rushford Court, the former County Hospital, is also neo Tudor, built in 1850 to resemble an Elizabethan house. ==List of colleges==