During the First World War, the Examination Schools together with Somerville College and other Oxford buildings were requisitioned by the War Office to create the 3rd Southern General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties.[4] The headquarters of the hospital were at the Examination Schools.[5]
The main purpose of the Schools is for the organisation and administration of the university examinations. Many of the final and other examinations for the University's students take place in the building, especially during Trinity Term. There is access to the building from both the High Street and Merton Street. Traditionally there have been parties in the street by students who have finished their exams, although the University tries to take measures to prevent this. At their height, traffic has been disrupted in the High Street.
In Michaelmas Term, the Examination Schools are host to the university's Freshers' Fair.
The building provides a major lecturing facility for the University and is also used as a meeting and conference venue outside term time. It is one of the largest buildings owned by the University.
On 13 June, protesters occupied a wing of the Examination Schools and renamed it Dahshan School after the academic Saeed Dahshan, causing the university to cancel some end-of-year exams. According the OA4P, the occupation was unaffiliated with the group and its encampments, but said that it was "a reflection of the mounting frustration". The university said the action "plainly goes beyond the bounds of acceptable protest".[6][7]
^Hibbert, Christopher; Hibbert, Edward (1988). The Encyclopaedia of Oxford. Macmillan Publishers Limited. p. 113. ISBN9780333399170. the Third Southern General Hospital (whose headquarters were at the Oxford University examination schools)
