Pembroke College - Oxford

Nikki_J76

Spend two weeks at a study abroad program at Pembroke College and it was amazing. From the Dining Hall Staff to Housekeeping and Porter Lodge, Pembroke was welcoming, gracious and amazing hosts. Summer 2022

Gary D.

I was a PGCE student here during the lockdowns of the pandemic; obviously this meant missing out on just about everything because all events had to be suspended. This was not the fault of the College, and we just had to make the best of it.

But it also meant that I jumped at the opportunity to visit post-pandemic, when things are 'normal', for an alumni reunion.

I already knew the splendour of this old place, but what a fantastic weekend of great food, drink, and events. The College was aa welcoming as I remembered, and we had a fantastic weekend staying in the old Master's lodgings.

I will be back as often as possible. The lifelong association we enjoy as an Old Member looks to be very exciting.

Luisa G. O.

I am doing an Mphil here as a mature student - College is lovely and people super helpful and friendly - feel very lucky

George C.

Pembroke College is an excellent college at the heart of Oxford and has very good facilities to use.

Daniyal A.

I stayed here as a student. During the pandemic they started construction work at Geoffrey Arthur Building, and the noise was unbearable. There was no reduction in rent, only one free meal was provided and that too was abruptly taken away. The college charges £500 if you vacate and go to other facility but the terrible noise from the construction was more than a handful. During my stay, the drill work was extensive, it made me sleep deprived. Finally, the lodge can be more kind and courteous to students.

The good things are the dining halls, and the chapel. Unfortunately, everything remained closed due to Covid, even when restrictions were lifted. Overall, the college can do better, if it becomes more responsive to student needs.

YK Y.

Tried to visit last year and there was a horrible female porter who said I wasn't allowed. Which is fine, but you don't have to bark at people and be so rude. Are you a prison guard or an Oxford college porter lol.

12 3.

LOVELY people! Maxi is especially great. Exquisite vibes. The bar as corridor blew my socks off! What an experience. I'll defo be back soon...

Tom W.

Pembroke is one of the less outstanding colleges which make up the University of Oxford by reputation; however, this is most undeserved. Admittedly, it has some amazing teaching and welfare staff, and a far nicer crop of students than the usual Oxford cohort of home-county privately educated mishaps. Under this seemingly tranquil surface, huge cracks aren’t too hard to find. As with most central university administrations, Pembroke’s management team don’t care about the welfare of staff or students. They are more bothered with conference profits, alumni donations from dodgy regimes, and renaming buildings to fund the latest unnecessary innovation. There are not enough cheap rooms for students whose families can’t afford to go on holidays and not too long ago Pembroke’s management tried to knock down most of the remaining cheapest rooms made available for students. This point is made again and again by the student body and yet management refuses to act.

To add insult to injury, Pembroke’s much talked about Access programme is wholly inadequate. The scheme does some good work yet is limited in scope. It goes no where near to addressing massive structural problems in the wider education system. The college still spends its own, and students’ resources, showing private school pupils around at the expense of those who don’t already have a structural advantage in society. Pembroke also give large scholarships of £1000 a year to those who get the best first-year results. The correlation between those who get the best first year results and those who went to private schools (and therefore don’t need an extra £1000 off accommodation costs p/a) is worryingly high. This money could be far better spent helping poorer students who need it. This is to say nothing of the link College is making between financial rewards and academic achievement.

Perhaps the most outstanding contribution Pembroke management has made to the education sector in the last few years is its shameful role in bringing about the largest strike in higher education history by having no regard for the welfare of its staff in retirement. Management manoeuvred to stifle democratic votes in college on the USS pension reforms and collaborated with the ‘money-above-all-else’ central university team of Louise Richardson to push for reforms which undervalue the hard work of pension participants. Putting student results ahead of their welfare isn’t something unique to Pembroke, or even Oxford, but shows how complicit in maintaining an exploitative, repressive educational status-quo Pembroke management are. Marketisation of education and educational facilities is the name of the game.

In short, the culture in the management of Pembroke College is rotten to the core and this adversely impacts on students and staff. It’s a shame the college isn’t stand-alone in this regard throughout the rest of Oxford University.