Academic dress of Durham University Academic dress of Durham University The academic dress of Durham University has many similarities with that of other older British universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Most colleges of Durham University insist on gowns being worn on formal occasions, including matriculation and formal halls (dinners); exceptions are Van Mildert, St Cuthbert's Society (selected dinners only), Collingwood, Stephenson, St Aidans, and The College of St Hild and St Bede (matriculation only). Some colleges also insist on their being worn to Junior Common Room meetings, and they are often seen in college chapels. At formal halls, only gowns are worn and doctors
History of the University of St Andrews University of St Andrews owed its origin to a society formed in 1410 by Laurence of Lindores, abbot of Scone, Richard de Cornell, archdeacon of Lothian, and the later bishop of Dunblane, William Stephenson, among others. In 1411 the Bishop of St Andrews, Henry Wardlaw, issued a charter which attracted the most learned men in Scotland as professors. In 1413 Avignon Pope Benedict XIII issued six bulls confirming the charter and constituting the society a university. Lectures took place in various parts of the town until 1430, when Wardlaw allowed the lecturers the use of a building called the "Paedagogium",