Oxford has recognised Reuben College as its first postgraduate college to receive College of Sanctuary status.
The distinction acknowledges the institution’s support for people affected by forced displacement.
Located in Parks Road, Reuben was founded in 2019 with an emphasis on postgraduate study.
It is also the only new college established at either Oxford or Cambridge since 1990.
Although it is the first postgraduate college in Oxford to gain the designation, Reuben is the third Oxford college to receive College of Sanctuary status overall, following Somerville and Mansfield.
Since admitting its first students in 2021, the college has supported more than 10 Sanctuary Scholars through the University of Oxford’s Refugee Academic Futures and Crisis Scholarship programmes.
Reuben’s founding president, Professor Lord Tarassenko, has a personal connection to the issue.
The grandson of a refugee from Eastern Ukraine, he established a university graduate scholarship programme for Ukrainian refugees within weeks of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Professor Lord Tarassenko said the recognition reflected Reuben’s determination to build a community where people from all backgrounds could feel they belonged and flourish.
He described the designation as both an important milestone and a continuing commitment to work with students, staff and partners across Oxford to maintain a culture of welcome at the college’s centre.
City of Sanctuary, a charity that supports organisations and institutions in welcoming people seeking sanctuary, assessed Reuben’s refugee work.
Its review highlighted the college’s detailed responses and its three-year plan to deepen its work with refugees.