Scout
At Oxford, a scout is a member of college staff who cleans and looks after students' rooms and staircases. Each scout usually has a set of staircases or a corridor and comes in on weekday mornings.
In practice
Scouts empty bins, clean shared kitchens and bathrooms, and often check that rooms are safe and in good repair, reporting anything broken to the college. Because they see students most days, they are also the people who notice when someone is unwell or has not been seen for a while, and many colleges treat them as part of the welfare system rather than just housekeeping. Arrangements differ between colleges: some clean bedrooms weekly, others only common areas, and graduate accommodation may have no scout at all.
Why it matters to newcomers
The word turns up in college handbooks, room-booking emails ("your scout will collect the key") and in conversation with anyone who studied here. If you are moving into college accommodation as a graduate student or visiting fellow, ask what your scout covers and when, so you are not surprised by a knock at nine.
Related
- Quad - the courtyard the staircases open onto
- Battels - the college bill that pays for rooms and services
- Gaudy - the reunion where old members ask after their scouts
Source: University of Oxford: colleges.