Key words
Quick reference guide for key words
accommodation
adviser (not advisor)
affect (‘Their business was not affected by the recession’ but ‘The recession has had no effect on their business’.)
ageing (not aging)
A-level
alumni (plural)
alumnus/alumna (male/female) - or graduate for recruitment materials
audio-visual
autumn 2017
BA (Hons)
bachelor’s degree
BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic)
Black (upper case ‘B’)
behaviour (not behavior)
benefited/benefiting (one ‘t’ only)
Brookes Bursary Scheme
BROOKESbus
BROOKESkey
BSc (Hons)
cafe (no accent)
centre (not center)
childcare
Clearing (UCAS system) (capital C)
co-operate
co-ordinate
coursework
Covid-19 (not COVID-19)
cybersecurity (one word)
cyberspace (one word)
DipHE (diploma of higher education)
DfE (Department for Education)
email
e-learning
e-commerce
eg (not e.g.)
en suite (two words)
euro (euros)
F1 (Formula 1)
Facebook
Fairtrade
focusing (one ‘s’ only)
Formula Student
foundation course
foundation degree - Fd(A) or Fd(Sc)
full-time
further education
GCSE (general certificate of secondary education)
Gipsy Lane (not Gypsy)
government
graduate (not alumni/alumna) in recruitment materials
halls of residence
headteacher (not headmaster or headmistress)
healthcare (one word)
HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England)
higher education but HE
historic (a historic city, not an historic city)
honours (lower case unless part of a specific degree title)
iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPlayer
International Baccalaureate (upper case)
install
instalment
interdisciplinary
-ise (not -ize)
John Henry Brookes Building (upper case)
judgement (not judgment)
LGBTQ+
liaison
marketplace
master’s degree(s)
motorsport
multicultural
multidisciplinary
multi-ethnic
multimedia
multiprofessional
national curriculum
NSS survey (National Student Satisfaction Survey)
Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education)
OxINMAHR (Oxford Institute for Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Research)
Park & Ride (not Park and Ride)
part-time
PGCE (postgraduate certificate in education)
PGCert (postgraduate certificate)
PGDip (postgraduate diploma)
PhD by research
PIP (personal information portal)
postgraduate
post-qualification
practice (noun)
practise (verb)
principal (first in importance)
principle (rule)
Pro Vice-Chancellor
program (computers)
programme (of study)
pro-rata
open day (no caps)
semester (not term)
Semester 1
signalling (not signaling)
socioeconomic
south-east (lower case and hyphen)
specialise (with an ‘s’ not ‘z’)
startup (noun - as in business startup)
stationary (not moving)
stationery (writing materials)
students’ union (but Brookes Union)
University of Oxford (not Oxford University)
Vice-Chancellor (with hyphen)
Vice-President
Victorian era (capital V)
wellbeing (1 word)
WhatsApp
wifi (lower case ‘w’)
work placement year (no hyphen)
worldwide
WP (widening participation)
Year 1 of a course (not year 1)
Year 12 students
YouTube (1 word, upper case ‘Y’ and ’T’)