The curriculum at Oxford before the reforms was notoriously narrow and impractical. Sir Spencer Walpole, a historian of contemporary Britain and a senior government official, had not attended any university. He says, ''few medical men, few solicitors, few persons intended for commerce or trade, ever dreamed of passing through a university career.'' He quotes the Oxford University Commissioners in 1852 stating: ''The education imparted at Oxford was not such as to conduce to the advancement in life of many persons, except those intended for the ministry.'' Nevertheless, Walpole argued:

Is it true that is university of oxford the same as oxford university?
yes