University card and IT services entitlements

Information about your university card and details of which IT services are accessible to you based on your card type

Please note that IT Services does not run the University card service. Card queries must be directed to the University Card Office via your department or college.

The facilities and services offered by IT Services are available, free of charge, to students, members of Congregation, staff (including some retired staff) and visitors. A current University card is required as the card data is used to determine a person's entitlement to services.

Access to Nexus365 is controlled by Microsoft licensing terms: Nexus365 licence entitlement

IT Services makes all checks against the electronic record of a University Card. If a card is cancelled by a college or department, the expiry date will change on the electronic record but the date printed on the card will not.

Expand All

Card Code     Status IT Services code Entitlement Group
MC Congregation (from Register of Congregation) senmem full
US University Staff (on payroll) staff full
FS Retiree approved by a dept or college ret retired
FR Retiree retfr retired
FB Retiree (no service entitlements) n/a n/a
AV Academic Visitor visitor full
DS Departmental Staff dept full
CS College Staff college full
GT/GR Postgraduate (from SITS) postgrad postgrad
UG Undergraduate (from SITS) undergrad undergrad
VR Visiting/Recognized Student (from SITS)     student undergrad
PT Part Time (Continuing Education - unmatriculated) undergrad undergrad
VD Departmental Visiting Student (@dept.ox.ac.uk email address) student undergrad
VV Departmental Visiting Student (@visiting.ox.ac.uk email address) student  undergrad
VC [1] College Visiting Student (@college.ox.ac.uk email address) student undergrad
CL/CB Cardholder (unit member, not a University member) cardholder cardholder
VA/VX Virtual Access (neither unit nor University member) virtual virtual
Non-card status: leaver Students in the 23 months after their University Card has expired (neither unit nor University member) leaver leaver

 

[1] For University Card Office internal use only.

 

No access to any IT Service-managed facilities is granted by any other card types, including:

For more information about University Cards, see the University Card site.

For the purposes of service entitlement, College includes Permanent Private Hall and Department includes Faculty and Sub-Faculty. Members of Recognised Independent Centres are not entitled to services based on accounts managed by IT Services.

 

Facility full retired postgrad undergrad cardholder virtual club/society leaver
Primary Oxford SSO account [1] yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes
Collaboration suite (Nexus365) yes[2][3] Limited [4] yes [5] yes [5] no no yes [6] no
Linux shell account yes yes yes yes no no yes no
Web space (users.ox.ac.uk) yes yes yes yes no no yes no
@unit.ox.ac.uk email address [7] yes FS only yes yes no no no no [8]
Delegated access to a Nexus mailbox yes yes yes yes no no no no
Remote Access account (eduroam, wireless) yes yes yes yes no no no no
VPN service yes yes yes yes no no no no
IT Services Courses yes yes yes yes no no n/a no
Canvas yes yes yes yes yes yes no yes
Own a mailing list yes yes yes yes no no yes no
Secondary account [9] yes no yes no no no no no
HFS CrashPlan and Storage Protect backup yes no yes no no no no no
@retired.ox.ac.uk email address [10] n/a FR only n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Site-licenced software Licenced for staff Limited [11] Licensed for students Licensed for students no no no no
Register an external email address yes yes yes yes yes yes [12] no yes
Access SOLO yes yes yes yes yes no no no
Access e-journals yes yes yes yes no no no no
Chorus account [13] yes yes yes yes no no no no
Access to Oxford-only content on University website (Mosaic sites or SharePoint links) yes no yes yes no no no no
Access to Oxford *staff-only* content on Mosaic sites yes no no no no no no no
Fresco website content editor yes no yes yes no yes yes no

 

Account removal schedules are available on the Finishing IT use at Oxford page.

 

Footnotes
[1] The Primary Oxford username is used to identify you in other systems. It is never issued to anyone else.
[2] A1 faculty licence, see: Nexus365 licence entitlement.
[3] A5 faculty licence, see: Nexus365 licence entitlement.
[4] Email and Calendar access only. See: Nexus365 licence entitlement.
[5] A5 student benefit licence, see: Nexus365 licence entitlement.
[6] Email and Calendar access only. See details on Student clubs and societies.
[7] The email address is considered to be 'owned' by the unit. A unit authorizes IT Services to issue an email address when the unit affiliation is added to a user's record. Email addresses may be re-issued, once it is safe to do so.
[8] The removal schedule is available on the Finishing IT use at Oxford page.

[9] Secondary accounts (also referred to as project accounts) can be created for a function or role, and the account can be passed to the next incumbent.
[10] An @retired.ox.ac.uk email address is allocated automatically to anyone with an 'FR' status card.
[11] FS/FR (retirees) are entitled to acquire the following software licences: VPN, EndNote, SPSS and NVivo. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide licences for any Microsoft or Sophos products.
[12] Registered email addresses for Virtual Access will get transferred automatically to GSS (the Graduate Supervision System).
[13] At the discretion of the user's unit, who has to assign a telephone number.

  • University cards are supplied automatically to students as part of the enrolment process.
  • Colleges and Departments must apply for a card for their staff and visitors.
  • When a new University Card is issued it triggers the Oxford Username and Single Sign-On account creation process. In most cases a Nexus mailbox and one or more email addresses will be created as well.
  • Retired staff can apply directly for a card. A fee is charged for retiree cards.
  • Please note: If you apply in person to Bodleian Admissions, the card you get will not give any entitlement to services provided by IT Services.

  • When a person's University card record is modified, IT Services will receive the information early the next day. Accounts and email addresses will be updated by a combination of automatic and manual actions, depending on what has changed.
  • Individuals can check their own email routings and expiry dates via the self-registration pages.
  • If there is a move to a new department or college, the email records will be updated but the Oxford username will remain the same.
  • Any email addresses which do not match a current affiliation will go into a wind down process.  This means the email address will become ex-directory but will continue to receive email for two months.

  • If your card is lost, stolen or damaged you must inform your College or Department administrator as soon as possible so that a replacement can be requested. If you do not do this, you may be held responsible for unauthorised use of your University card. The University Card Office charges a fee to replace a lost card. There is no fee for replacing a stolen card where a crime number is reported.
  • If you lose your Card and find it again after a replacement has been issued, you must use the new card and destroy the old one. Electronic records will only contain the barcode of the new card. Your old card will not be accepted by IT Services or elsewhere.
  • Damaged cards are replaced free of charge (with the exception of retiree cards where a fee must be paid).

College or Department administrators must ask the University Card Office to cancel the electronic record of a person's card when they leave earlier than the card expiry date. Even if the card is repossessed, the barcode number can be used to access various library and computing facilities if the electronic record is not cancelled. This applies to Virtual Access status cards as well as physical cards.

 

Related links

Get support

If you cannot find the solution you need here then we have other ways to get IT support

Get IT support

Submit a suggestion, compliment or complaint