At Colleges of the University of Oxford, a Collection may be one of two things:
- It can be an examination taken at the beginning of term by undergraduates, testing the work done in the previous term, and usually taking the form of a past paper (typically a three-hour exam). Undergraduates normally take two courses per term, so sit two Collections. Collections are College affairs, not part of the niversity examinations, and so don't count towards degree results.
- A Penal Collection might be set if an undergraduate has failed to work hard enough. Failure to achieve a minimum mark set in advance may result in the student's being rusticated for a set period, or even being “sent down” — that is permanently expelled from the course.
- It can also be a meeting, usually with the Head of House of the College, at which reports of the term's work are read, or (especially for postgraduates) the student's progress is discussed. These are sometimes known as “hand-shaking”, or “Principal's (Master's/Warden's/Presidents', etc.) Collections”.
