Congratulations on finishing your degree and welcome to the Balliol alumni community!
Your connection to Balliol is life-long. The college has over 8,000 alumni across the globe, and we like to keep in touch. As you make your transition from student to Old Member, there are a number of resources and pieces of important information that we would like to point out to you. We've put together this Leavers’ page so that you can find all of this in one place and to introduce you to what it means to be a part of our wonderful community of Old Members.
We like to stay connected with Old Members and hear about where their Balliol education has taken them. To ensure that you receive invitations to alumni events, news from the college community, and updates about ways you can continue to engage with Balliol, it is important that we have your updated contact details before you leave college and (even more importantly) before your college email address expires.
As an Old Member, you can also check that all your contact information is up-to-date by registering for a MyOxford account. This account will allow you to login, create your contact profile, and easily edit your information and preferences whenever there are any changes. Alternatively, you can always email us at development.office@balliol.ox.ac.uk
You will have received an invitation from the University to book a place on a ceremony online. This email usually arrives during Michaelmas Term of your final year. If you are a postgraduate research student, you can book a place on a ceremony after being granted leave to supplicate. The University will contact you via your Oxford email address, inviting you to make your booking.
Degree certificates are collected at Balliol after your ceremony. If you are graduating in absentia, your certificate will be posted to the address you supplied when making your graduation booking. If you have passed all of your examinations, but have not yet had your degree conferred at an official degree ceremony, you can request a free degree confirmation letter. This letter will confirm the successful completion of your course at the University of Oxford, the dates of attendance, and your degree classification. The confirmation letter is often helpful when applying to jobs in the period before your degree ceremony.
You can read more about graduation, obtaining degree certificates and transcripts here.
Being a Balliol Old Member and an Oxford alumnus earns you exclusive offers and benefits:
Dining in College Any Old Member is welcome to dine in Hall at lunchtime during term-time between 12.30 and 1.30pm and in the evening for dinner between 6.30 and 7.30pm (except on Tuesdays when dinner is between 6.15 and 7.15pm). There is no need to book in advance, although we suggest checking with us first if you are planning to visit, as from time to time meals are cancelled because of other College events. Meals can be paid for in cash on the day.
Staying in CollegeIf you’re returning to Oxford for a conference, research trip, or simply for a trip down memory lane, why not book to stay in a college room? Old Members are welcome to book one of our guest rooms at either Broad Street or in Holywell Manor. To enquire about priced and to make a booking, please email bursars.office@balliol.ox.ac.uk
Get Married in BalliolThe Chapel is available to Old Members for their wedding or religious service after civil marriage. If you are planning your celebration, we would love to welcome you back to college.
Old Members EventsBalliol puts on an exciting programme of events for alumni and friends both in college and all around the world. Old Members will be periodically invited to Gaudy lunches and dinners to celebrate their time in college with fellow Balliolites of the same generation of students. We also host several in-person and online lectures, which are often delivered by Balliol Fellows. Even if you can’t make it back to Balliol for an event, there are plenty of opportunities to connect with college and fellow Old Members through the various drinks receptions and dinners which we organise across the UK and around the world. Be sure to check that we have up-to-date contact info and address information so that we can invite you to events taking place in your area.
Publications As an alum, if you opt-in, you’ll receive our monthly alumni newsletters and emails with updates about the college community, fellow alumni, and invitations to forthcoming events. We are also proud to be able to offer our Old Members digital or print copies of Floreat Domus, our annual colour magazine with news and features about the college community, our Annual Record, and our annual Impact Report.
MerchandiseOld Members can still purchase college merchandise to show their Balliol pride. We also sell a number of Balliol inspired art prints and publications.
The university also offers a wealth of exclusive alumni benefits to Oxonians, which you can enjoy throughout the next phase of your Oxford journey. Look out for incoming communications from The Oxford Alumni Office regarding the University’s Leavers’ Fair, set to take place during week 7 of Trinity Term, and details about the ‘My Oxford Online’ campaign, which is the university’s platform for alumni engagement and resources.
Oxford Alumni CardYour Oxford Alumni Card is your ticket around the city and helps you to access the various benefits and services provided by the university, such as entrance to your college, free admission to the Bodleian Library, exclusive discount at the Ashmolean Museum and the University Botanic Gardens, and a 15% discount at Blackwell’s Bookshop. In order to request your card, log into your ‘My Oxford Online’ account, select the ‘I want to’ menu, and click ‘Request a My Oxford Card’.
The University CareerConnectAlumni have access to the University careers service for life. You can sign up for an account on the CareerConnect homepage. No matter what phase of your career you’re in, they are there to lend a hand.
Journals and Databases AccessYou can access thousands of journals through your My Oxford Online account. There also a breadth of resources provided by the Bodleian’s exceptional collection of library databases to enrich your access to a broad range of high-quality information resources to enrich your lifelong learning.
Oxford Alumni Group NetworkOxford has a community of over 350,000 alumni worldwide. The University of Oxford Alumni Group Network currently has over 150 regional groups in over 90 countries and 11 special interest groups. No matter where you go, there is sure to be a group of fellow Oxonians who are keen to meet you. From lunch in Madrid, monthly drinks in Auckland, to New Year’s dinner in Tokyo, alumni groups organise a variety of networking and social events across the year. You can register your interest in joining a group online at alumni.ox.ac.uk or, if you can’t find a group in your region, the university alumni office can help you start one.
Reader Status at the BodleianIf you hold a BA degree or above from Oxford, you can apply for a free Bodleian Reader Card. As part of your card holder status, you will be able to make use of the library’s scan and deliver service, which allows you to access items in the Bodleian Libraries Book Storage Facility, meaning that even if you are no longer based in Oxford, you can still consult the library’s resources right from your desktop.
As you come to the end of your time as a student at Balliol, you may be reflecting upon the aspects of your education here that you have cherished most. The student experience at Balliol is heavily supported by the generosity of Old Members, who want to ensure that future generations of students thrive within the college community and get the most out of their studies at Balliol. Donations from young alumni are particularly important because they reflect the enthusiasm of recent leavers and help us to continue to enrich the Balliol student experience in ways that newer Old Members understand are key to the college’s ongoing growth as an inclusive community of academic excellence.
If you would like to make a leavers’ gift to the college that has been your home throughout your time in Oxford, you can direct your donations to a variety of different funds, which reflect areas of need that you may have felt strongly about while you were a student:
Student Support
Access and Outreach
Ukraine Crisis Appeal
Sports and Societies
Holywell Manor Fund