College Facilities

Dining Hall

Opening times

The Dining Hall is currently located in the Hilda Besse building. Hall is normally open from Monday to Friday for lunch (12.30–13.15) and dinner (18.00–18.40), and on Saturday for brunch/lunch. Hall is closed for certain periods during vacations when the College’s domestic staff are on holiday or when there is a special function.  

A choice of hot dishes, including a vegetarian selection, is offered at lunch and dinner, along with a variety of salads, cheeses, fruits and desserts. The Chef welcomes comments about the food on offer. Students may take advantage of the specially low priced Student Meal Deal at both lunch and dinner.

No booking is necessary, but students wishing to reserve a small table for themselves and guests should email the Steward in advance.

Paying for meals

The College operates a “Cashless Hall”, whereby food and drink is paid for in one of two ways:

1. University card – you automatically have a “Upay” account associated with your University card when you start at college.  You can top-up this card with cash by making an on-line payment. When you pay for your meals with your University card you will be charges at a lower student prices and the payment will automatically be deducted from your Upay account.  You must ensure that you have sufficient credit on your card in order to pay for meals.
2. Debit/Credit card – you or your guests can pay for meals on a standard debit or credit card, but there is no student discount using this method of payment.

Formal dinners

High Table is a formal dinner served in Hall on Tuesdays and Fridays in term time. Students may attend by invitation; in particular they may be invited when they have published a book on an academic subject, won an academic essay prize, been awarded a reputable prize by an organisation external to the University of Oxford, or obtained a distinction in exams or for their thesis. Students or teams who obtain distinction in sports events or are awarded a blue or a half blue are likely to be invited. Students who consider themselves eligible for an invitation should contact the GCR President for further information. Gowns are optional for students attending High Table as guests.

Booking Rooms and Events in College

Enrolled students may use spaces in College for small meetings, events and seminars. These are booked via the Accommodation and Conference Office, and depend on a suitable space being available at your chosen time. 

You can download the room booking form here. Please note that if you would like to book an event or rooms in college, it is your responsibility to get the booking form signed by a GCR Executive who will then be responsible for the event. If you are having an external speaker at your event, then you also need to obtain approval from the college Dean. In order to get your event booked you must collect the necessary signatures and send the form to the Conference and Accommodation Office 5 working days prior the event at the latest. If you plan to provide any food at the event you must complete the Catering Indemnity Form which will be checked and approved by the Domestic Bursar. A form can be requested via the Accommodation and Conference Office team.

Computing facilities

Student members of the College have various IT resources available to them.

IT Services, based predominantly at 13 Banbury Road, provide the University with its central computing facilities; this is where email accounts are managed. As University members, students are entitled to a number of services provided centrally. These include help desk advice and training courses. IT Services also provide the TSM backup service (not available for Visiting Students) and a low cost ‘breakdown’ insurance scheme. There are a number of free Software Packages available to students during their studies, including Office 365, Sophos Anti-Virus, SPSS, Matlab and Mathematica.

The College houses a 24-hour Computer Room in the Old Main Building equipped with general computing, scanning and printing facilities. There are Ethernet points in all College rooms and at study desks in the College Library. There is good wireless coverage in College accommodation and communal areas. Students are encouraged to bring a laptop computer with them.

Further details of College IT support are available here. This webpage includes information on: computing facilities in College, using the wired and wireless networks, email at Oxford, printing, troubleshooting common problems, free software, IT Office opening hours and more.

Common rooms

The College currently has a Shared Common Room (SCR) which may be used by all College members, students, Senior and staff members and their accompanied guests.

A selection of newspapers and magazines is available for Shared Common Room use only and must not be removed at any time.

Late bar

The GCR (see section 6) operates a late bar between Sunday and Friday (and Saturdays when there is a BOP) during term time.

The bar is located in the Buttery on the ground floor of the Hilda Box building. The GCR’s Facebook page gives updates about hours of operation and upcoming events.

Access to buildings and facilities

Several College areas – currently the Main Building, Computer Room, College Library, Hilda Box Building (late at night), Gulbenkian Room (at night), some accommodation blocks (particularly within the Gateway and Ghassan Shaker buildings) – are accessed using University Cards, which are  programmed to allow access to these areas.

As the University card is a ‘proximity card’, containing an embedded chip, it should NOT be pierced or punched, e.g. attached to a key ring, as this may damage the chip.

If a University card does not grant access to these buildings, see a member of the Domestic Bursary located in the College Administration Offices, Gateway Building during office hours (10:00-12.30 and 14:00-16:00, Monday-Friday).

For certain periods during vacations, there are no catering facilities or services in Hall and reduced housekeeping services as the College’s domestic staff are on holiday. Students will be given advance notice of these periods by email.

College Lodge

The College Lodge is in the Ghassan Shaker Building at the main entrance on Woodstock Road and is staffed by Porters who provide information and deal with matters of security. There is a Porter on duty 24 hours a day, and duplicate keys/access cards of all College accommodation are kept in the Lodge. Out of office hours and at weekends Porters are your first point of call for any emergencies.

Receiving post (mail)

All incoming mail is received at the Lodge and distributed to members via individual post boxes known as a ‘pigeonhole’ or ‘pidge’. All mail should be personally addressed at the main College address and can be collected from the College Lodge. Mail should not be sent to the address of individual College houses.  There is a Combined A-Z Section in the pigeonhole area which is for Visiting Students as well as students who will be on fieldwork or suspended for more than one terms.

The College’s address is:

St Antony’s College, 62 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6JF, UK

Telephone: +44 (0)1865 284700

Fax: +44 (0)1865 554465

Mail is collected from the Lodge daily except on Sundays. Internal mail for the University and Colleges will be delivered within the ring road. There is no charge for this service but it is not available for bulk mailing, personal mail, or packages. The College does not assume responsibility for lost or stolen mail.

Photocopying, scanning and faxing

There are photocopying, scanning and faxing facilities for the use of College members situated in the Computer Room, Old Main Building. Charges will be added to battels accounts.

A copy of the University regulations relating to the Copyright Licensing Authority is available here.

Recycling

All students, particularly those living in College accommodation, are encouraged to recycle waste items as much as possible and, to this end, kitchens within houses have separate bins for different materials. While it is not the Scouts’ responsibility to sort recycling into the appropriate bin, they will, periodically, take bins to a larger recycling bin, on site, and return the empty bins to the house. Students should ensure that the recycling bins – or any other receptacles – do not block corridors, entrances or, particularly, fire escape routes or exits.

Parking

Due to very restricted car parking facilities, the College is unable to offer students or their visitors car parking facilities. We recommend that students do not bring a car to Oxford.

Students who have a personal disability and are in possession of a blue badge for disabled drivers should contact the Domestic Bursar.

Parking in Oxford is also very restricted and the City Council encourages visitors to use public transport. However, visitors who bring a car might find the following information useful.

Oxford City Council operates most of the car parks in Oxford. Some of the streets near College have short-term (usually two hours) parking free of charge but availability cannot be guaranteed.

Some of the Park and Ride services offer a long term parking option, although there is no guarantee of a parking space. The nearest Park and Ride to College is Pear Tree at the top of Woodstock Road. It takes 15-20 minutes on the number 300 bus from Pear Tree back to College; the nearest bus stop is on Woodstock Road opposite the Old Radcliffe Infirmary. Parking can be purchased for a day, week or month at the Park and Ride, or a 13 week or 1 year permit can be applied for through the City Council’s Car Parks office.

A generous level of provision for bicycle parking is made within the main College campus and adjacent to the off-campus houses.  Therefore, no bicycles may be stored within any building of the College.  Any bicycle found within the buildings will be removed without further notice and the Dean will be informed.