St Peter's is one of Oxford's younger colleges, noted for its friendliness, flexibility and informality, with modern facilities for teaching and research.
Founded in 1929 expressly to widen access to the University, the College holds true to the ideals of Oxford, above all the pursuit of academic excellence. It became a full College of Oxford University in 1961 and currently comprises a Master and about 40 Fellows in a wide range of subjects, some 120 graduate and 356 undergraduate students, and about 80 College staff.
The buildings, in a central location on the site of the medieval New Inn Hall, range in date from Linton House of 1794 and Canal House of 1828 – both former headquarters of the Oxford Canal Company – through the former parish church of St Peter-le-Bailey, built in 1874 and now the College Chapel, to a range of purpose-built College buildings from the 1930s through to the present.
The College aims to provide an educational experience for its students that matches but does not slavishly imitate that of the longer-established and richer Colleges of the University of Oxford. In order to enhance its academic environment, attraction and performance, the College has been involved for the last decade in a continuing programme of acquiring and constructing new buildings and modernising its existing buildings, with the aim of providing high-standard living accommodation for as many of its students as possible, and the best possible facilities for both students and senior members.