‘Maintain the old institutions in their old quiet way’

This chapter focuses on university reform in Victorian Britain. Change was imposed on the universities of Victorian Britain by outside forces, but it was also the outcome of a struggle within the universities. This struggle was most intense and consequential for the universities in Oxford and Cambridge, owing to their uniquely close connection with established structures of power and privilege in religion, politics, and society. One of the more strident of those who opposed reform was Alexander James Beresford Hope, MP for Cambridge University from 1868 to 1887. The chapter then investigates the universities' connection with the Church, focusing on religious tests, clerical personnel, and theological instruction. It also considers disagreements about other areas of reform: endowments, fellowships, and headships; the independence of colleges; curriculum, teaching, ‘research’, and examinations; administrative and financial issues; and accessibility and the composition of the student body.