We at Wadham wish Lord Patten of Barnes a happy retirement.

Date Published: 08.08.2024

Lord Patten of Barnes retired on 31 July after 21 years of service as Chancellor of Oxford University.

We wish Lord Patten a happy retirement and thank him for his support of Wadham College, particularly our schools and outreach work. We were honoured to host Lord Patten when he officially opened our Back Quad Buildings, home to the first dedicated access facility in Oxford, the Locke Access Centre, the Dr Lee Shau Kee Building, and the William Doo Undergraduate Centre.

When acknowledging the contribution of our hardworking project team of Wadham colleagues all the donors who made the buildings possible, Lord Patten said:

…I am very grateful to everyone who has made Wadham one of the vanguard colleges in achieving the successes we have had in opening up to kids of every possible background…

Robert Hannigan, our Warden, said:

“We owe a great debt to Lord Patten. As Chancellor, he has defended and promoted the value of scholarship and the idea of a university through some very difficult years when these fundamental principles have been challenged. He has also promoted the extension of opportunity so that the best students from whatever background across the UK can have access to Oxford. All of us at Wadham send him our gratitude and best wishes for the future”.

Alasdair Locke and Lord Patten cut the ribbon to officially open Wadham's Back Quad buildings, with Amanda Levete, Founder of of AL_A, Neal Shasore (History of Art, 2007), Lord Ken Macdonald, former Warden, and Robert Hannigan, Warden of Wadham College.