Jesus College was founded in 1571, its title reflecting the strong religious beliefs of the age. Elizabeth I granted the new college a charter and the premises of White Hall, an academic hall that already had a 300-year history. It is the only college in Oxford to have been founded in Elizabeth’s reign. Until the 1870s students at Jesus were overwhelmingly Welsh: today the College draws its students from all over the world, particularly its graduate community. In 1974 the College became one of the first five men’s colleges to admit women.

Consistently ranking among the top third of Oxford colleges in the Norrington Table, the College has a reputation for taking the brightest people, regardless of background and educating them in one of the friendliest Colleges in Oxford.