# St Antony's College, Oxford University St Antony's College, Oxford University is a Foundation based in Oxford, United Kingdom. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Foundation - **Headquarters:** Oxford, United Kingdom - **Region:** Europe - **Address:** 62 Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6JF, United Kingdom - **Founded:** 1950 - **Assets under management:** $74.6M (Altss estimate) - **Website:** sant.ox.ac.uk - **LinkedIn:** https://uk.linkedin.com/company/st-antony's-college ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About French merchant Antonin Besse's 1950 gift transformed an aging North Oxford convent into St Antony's College, creating the University of Oxford's most international graduate-only college. The endowment's wealth originates from Besse's Aden-based trading empire, a fortune built on commerce across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean that now funds advanced study in international relations, economics, politics, and area studies for 550 students representing over 70 countries. The college's investment posture is defined by a portfolio of directly held physical assets surrounding its Woodstock Road campus and passive participation in the broader University of Oxford Endowment Fund. Real estate holdings include the Hilda Besse Building, the Investcorp Building, a commercial property at 66 Woodstock Road, and a residential asset on Canterbury Road. The endowment supports a direct scholarship budget of roughly £1,000,000 for the 2024/25 academic year, according to the college's stated priorities (per St Antony's College website, 2024/25). Philanthropic vehicles under the St Antony's umbrella include the Albert Hourani Scholarship Fund, The Antonian Fund, each channeling donor-restricted capital toward specific students and programs. The portfolio is governed by a conference of college fellows, with Warden Roger Goodman — appointed in 2017 — acting as the operational leader. The endowment maintains no separate investment office and instead relies on the University of Oxford's central investment management for pooled fund exposure. Adjacent to the college's direct assets sits the Besse Society, a legacy-giving circle designed to capture planned gifts from alumni. The college's latest strategic priorities for 2025–2027, published in May 2025, target fundraising expansion, environmental sustainability in operations, and governance modernization (per St Antony's College website, May 2025). The structure differs from independently managed endowments because it operates as a hybrid — a small directly held real asset portfolio anchoring a predominantly pooled fund commitment to a centralized university endowment. This architecture means investment decisions are split between local stewardship of physical campus properties and delegated university-level asset management, constraining both the agility and the risk taken by college leadership. ## Sectors - Education - Real Estate ## People - Roger Goodman — Warden ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at St Antony's College? There is no dedicated investment office. Day-to-day governance sits with the Warden — currently Roger Goodman, appointed in 2017 — and a conference of college fellows. Pooled fund exposure sits inside the University of Oxford Endowment Fund, where professional managers run the capital at the university level. Direct property assets on campus, like the Investcorp Building and the Hilda Besse Building, are overseen internally. ### How does St Antony's College source potential philanthropists and donors? Through deep alumni networks in diplomacy, journalism, business, and politics, as well as The Besse Society, a legacy giving circle. The college's seven regional study centres — covering Africa, Asia, Europe, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East, and Russia and Eurasia — create a funnel of practitioners-turned-alumni. Named donors like Investcorp and John Swire & Sons have funded physical infrastructure and scholarship programs over decades. ### What asset classes does the St Antony's endowment invest in? The pool is split between directly held real estate, including commercial and residential properties in North Oxford, and units in the University of Oxford Endowment Fund, which pursues a diversified multi-asset strategy across public equities, private markets, real assets, and fixed income. The college does not publish individual allocation targets. Campus holdings like the Investcorp Building and Hilda Besse Building dominate the directly-owned side. ### How is St Antony's College related to the University of Oxford? St Antony's is one of Oxford's constituent colleges but stands out as a graduate-only institution accepting students exclusively for master's and doctoral programs. It participates in the University of Oxford Endowment Fund and follows the university's framework for financial governance. Its seven regional study centres make it the university's hub for global and area studies. ## Related profiles - [South Somerset District Council (SSDC)](https://altss.com/profile/south-somerset-district-council-ssdc) - [St Catherine's College, Oxford University](https://altss.com/profile/st-catherines-college-oxford-university) --- Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/st-antonys-college-oxford-university Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology