The College was founded in 1930 as a residential college for students from The Dominions. Its aim was to improve international tolerance and understanding amongst people on the brink of their careers by providing a forum in which they could interact. The College has expanded greatly since that time and now consists of a community of 650 postgraduate students from over ninety countries. It is an independent educational charity which receives no state funding and relies instead on the generation of its own income.
"The Battle of Ideas is a unique opportunity to learn from vigorous exchanges among some of the world's best-informed and most provocative people." Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator, Financial Times