Living at Mansfield

Accommodation

Visiting students live in College accommodation. In order that Visiting Students may have a fuller experience of living in the UK, the College tries - as far as is practicable - to integrate their housing with that of other Mansfield students. All students have their own study-bedroom, and share kitchen and bathroom facilities. They also have access to the College Dining Hall for meals during term time together with all other College facilities.  Visiting students live either in the Ablethorpe Building, just over Magdalen Bridge, or in houses managed by the College on Cowley Road, not far from Ablethorpe. Visiting Students do not have to move out of their accommodation over the Easter and Christmas vacations, and Oxford can provide an excellent base for exploring the rest of the UK and Europe.

Locations

Ablethorpe Building

This is a College owned student accommodation block, located just off Cowley Road in East Oxford.  The rooms are single occupancy with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. All bedrooms have a single bed, desk and chair, wardrobe and drawers. All kitchens have a stove and oven, fridge freezer, microwave oven, kettle and toaster.  There is a laundry facility on the site as well as a common room with a television, sofas and chairs.

Ablethorpe is a 15 minute walk from the main College site and is close to many local amenities including numerous restaurants, shops, bars and music venues.

You can find a virtual tour of the Ablethorpe Building on this page: Virtual Tours

Cowley Road

The Cowley Road houses are a 25-30 minute walk from the College.  These period houses were built in the early 1900's and still contain many features of the late Victorian and early Edwardian era, including high ceilings and covings.  The houses are rented from a private landlord and managed by Mansfield College and have been modernised for life in the twenty-first century, featuring comfortable single occupancy rooms with shared kitchen and bathroom facilities as well as Wi-Fi.  Both houses have kitchens with a cooker, fridge/freezer, washing machine, microwave, kettle and toaster.  There are large common areas both indoors and outdoors.  All communal areas are cleaned once per week. 

229 is made up of 13 bedrooms over 3 floors with a large ground floor kitchen containing a dining area.  All bedrooms have en-suite facilities and contain a single bed, built-in desk, wardrobe and chest of drawers. 

231 Cowley Road is made up of 16 bedrooms over three floors, with a kitchen, bathroom and separate shower and WC situated on each floor.  All bedrooms contain a single bed, desk, chest of drawers and a small hand basin.

You can find a virtual tour of the Cowley Road houses on this page: Virtual Tours

Applying for Accommodation

All Visiting Students are guaranteed college accommodation.  When accepting your offer, you will be asked to express a preference as to which accommodation you would like to be allocated.  Please note that we cannot guarantee any individual student a particular type of accommodation, but will endeavour to take preferences into account where possible.  We encourage students to let us know of any needs (medical, disability, religious belief, or other) when accepting their offer.

Meals

Mansfield has some of the best food in the University, and at reasonable prices. Although there is no obligation to eat in the College Dining Hall, students are encouraged to do so.

Lunch and dinner are served in the Dining Hall and most meals are cafeteria style. There is a wide choice of meals, including vegetarian options.  In 2016 and 2019 Mansfield was voted the best college for vegetarian food in the University.

The twice-weekly formal second sitting of dinner is very popular and there are regular special dinners such as a Thanksgiving dinner.

For information on the costs of accommodation and meals, please see Fees and Finance.

Facilities