- Hi I'm Hannah, and welcome to Pembroke College.
I'm a DPhil student here studying English and Italian.
- And I'm Louis, I'm a DPhil student studying History.
- Pembroke is one of the older colleges in Oxford, it was founded in 1624,
and there are around 400 undergraduate students,
and also 250 graduate students who study here.
So we have in Old Quad these markings on the doorways
which show rowing competitions that the college has won in the past.
And rowing is really really big at Pembroke,
a lot of graduate students take part.
There are also many many other sports and societies
which are available to graduate students in Pembroke.
- So we're standing here beneath the MCR common room,
and it's a real, sort of, social hub for the whole community,
and it's a very, er, very broad community,
erm, Pembroke MCR has people studying pretty much all of the subjects here in Oxford,
we don't specialise in any particular area,
which is fantastic when you can meet people doing
a whole range of things, it's really inspiring to talk to
and we're also I guess diverse in terms of the subjects we have,
but also in the kind of backgrounds we try to recruit from,
we're really keen to, erm, make sure that everybody's represented here,
we have new scholarships for BAME students,
and we're working all the time to improve
our access programmes for graduate study.
- So this is the MCR or the graduate common room.
So we hold many many events in this space,
a minimum of three events a week in term time,
and we have brunches in this room, we have, um,
drinks receptions, second dessert after formal,
we also hold our committee meetings in here,
so currently I'm the MCR president,
and we like to think of it as the living room of the community,
and you can just come anytime, it's open 24/7.
- So there's a few Pembrokians through history that we're proud of,
probably best known is J.R.R Tolkien who taught here for, er, at least 20 years.
We've got a letter from him, er, on the wall here, sort of
explaining how he's got a book coming out, er, called The Hobbit,
which he thinks is going to be quite successful.
So this is the the Blue Room
where we have lots of events, er, including BOPs, film nights, video game tournaments,
er, and of course bar night. So behind this hatch is the Rose & Thistle,
the famous Pembroke MCR Bar,
it's a really lovely place to come and hang out, very relaxed.
And it's worth pointing out too that our events
run all year round, although terms here in Oxford are quite short, quite intense,
er, we know that lots of graduate students are going to be here during the holidays too,
so the bar is open pretty much, um, every week
and we also, for example, in the summer vacation do summer trips,
um, to various places around the UK. Um, so,
however long you're here in Pembroke,
there'll always be something going on in and around the MCR.
- So we also have inside the common room a small kitchen,
which is very convenient because we're also right next to the college library,
so it's very, um, very frequently used as a space to
come up and have a quick break or have your lunch.
So this is Chapel Quad, which is the largest quad in college,
and as you can see in the summer we're allowed to go on the grass,
so this can be used for picnics and croquet,
and it's also the location where we have the drinks reception
before our Trinity term banquet.
The banquet is the biggest event in the Pembroke social calendar for graduates,
we have one every term and it's a black tie three course dinner in our hall.
- So we're standing here outside the main hall, um, for the college, er,
which is where there are formal dinners twice a week, on average,
which you can come to if you want to, completely optional,
which are a chance to get some really good food,
er, we also have exchange dinners here, really popular event with other colleges,
er, and once a year we also have, er, the exchange with
our sister college in Cambridge, Queens College,
er, they come to, er, here to us and then we go and visit them, which is always a really fun day.
So it sounds like a lot of eating, if you want to, sort of, work off some of that food
we do also have, erm, a regular event, the Master's ramble,
a ramble with the, er, Master of the college, where we go walking in the countryside.
Underneath the hall is the Hall Bar
which is open for all members of the college and is a really nice space.
- So at this point we're leaving the old part of college, and to do so
we come through and over this bridge,
going over into Rokos Quad, which is the new part of college.
The room that we're going to see is just up here.
So this is one of the graduate accommodation rooms on the main site in college.
It's in one of the new buildings, so everything has been completed in the last few years.
All of the graduate rooms on main site have ensuite bathrooms,
and they're also currently building, um, another, um, set of graduate rooms
in our annexe building which is about 10 minutes away.
- So this is Farthings, our wonderful café, and it's
a really great place to come meet friends, do a little bit of studying,
whilst also, er, having a coffee, and the breakfasts, er, fry up's definitely to be recommended.
Behind me is through to the Pichette Auditorium,
the main lecture hall in college,
but we have other events here too, um, I mentioned earlier that we're quite proud of Tolkien, er,
once a year for example the MCR, er, with others collaborates to run a, sort of,
a lecture where we invite a leading fantasy author to come in and talk about
er, the genre, so that's always a really fun, er, event.
- I wonder if we can see the ducks...
Around somewhere in the summer, in the spring,
there's always ducks and ducklings,
um, around here somewhere.
So the college also provides welfare support, so we have
a dedicated member of college staff who works on welfare projects.
We also have the Junior Deans,
and the MCR itself has three Welfare Reps
who organise welfare teas,
and offer support to any student who, um, would like it.
So we're just outside the library which is open 24/7,
and the college librarian can help to source books if you need them for your research.
We also have a twice weekly writing group
where you can come and work in a supportive environment with other graduate students,
and once a term we hold a research symposium in the MCR
where you can come and hear your fellow students give a short presentation
on their research.
- So for extra academic support, er,
you also have, erm, one of the fellows is appointed as
your college advisor, and you can go to them for help.
We also have some financial support in terms of
um, sort of, funding you can apply for, for um,
to put on research events, to do travel for your research.
I think it's very much a goldilocks porridge kind of college,
it's not too not too huge, you don't get swamped,
not too small, it's not claustrophobic,
er, not too old, not too young, and
yeah just right bang in the middle of things
and right bang in the middle of Oxford, so I think it's a fantastic place to be.