IT Information for Freshers

This page aims to answer any fresher-related queries about IT at Brasenose College and the University in general. Much of this will be covered in the Fresher IT Induction in mid-September (dates TBC – you will receive an email in due course), during which the Brasenose IT team will help you set up your accounts and assist with any issues you may have while doing so.

Your Oxford Accounts & How to Set Up

You will come across various user accounts during your time at Oxford.  These include:

  • Your Single Sign-On (SSO): This is your most useful account and will, once activated, log you in to a lot of University services.
  • Your Remote Access SSO (RASSO) account: You will use this to connect to the WiFi network Eduroam. More information about Eduroam can be found below.
  • Your Upay account:  This is the service that allows you to pay for food, drinks down the bar and formal dinners once you have added credit to your University card (sometimes known as your “Bod Card”).
  • Your Bodleian account:  You need this to use the computers in the Bodleian libraries. The library team will explain this to you during your library induction.

Below are the steps you will need to take to activate your accounts, but remember that you will receive assistance on how to carry out these steps during your IT induction, so don’t worry if you get stuck.

1. Activate your SSO

A few weeks after submitting your University card form you will receive an email from the University with information on how to activate your Single Sign On (SSO). If you do not receive this email you may have forgotten to register a personal email address, or you may have registered a school email address that is no longer active.

If your SSO activation email has not arrived two weeks after you sent your card form in, contact the IT office via computer.office@bnc.ox.ac.uk and they can send you the details needed to activate your account.

If you forget the password for your SSO, you can reset it here: https://webauth.ox.ac.uk

2. Activate Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Once you have activated your SSO, you will then need to set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Used in conjunction with a strong account passphrase, MFA helps to secure your account against unauthorised access by requiring you to input a code, or authorise a notification on your device, before you can be logged in.

The MFA setup process is triggered the first time you try to log in to a University service with your SSO, e.g. webmail, which can be accessed via https://outlook.office.com.

Guidance on setting up MFA on your account can be found here: https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/mfa

3. Register with the University

To do this, go to www.evision.ox.ac.uk and sign in with your SSO. Then go to My Student Record and click on Register. This must be done by the end of the first week of term.

4. Activate your Remote Access SSO (RASSO) account 

You will need this to access the WiFi network Eduroam. Once you have activated your SSO, you can log in to register.it.ox.ac.uk and selecting the option to “change/set up a Remote Access (Eduroam WiFi) account password”. When setting this account up, you will be directed to choose a different password for your Remote Access SSO (RASSO) than you have for your standard SSO.

5. Set up Upay

You will at some point receive an email to your University email address with your login details for Upay and instructions on how to set your password. The username for your account is your University email address.

Upay can be accessed via the web at https://www.upay.co.uk or via an app which can be downloaded via the Google Play or Apple App stores.

When logging into Upay via either the app or the website, use the username and password fields on the login page to log in using your Upay credentials that were emailed to you. There is also the option to log in using your SSO, which you can do by selecting “Single Sign On” from the Upay login screen.

Once you have logged into Upay, you will need to top up your balance to allow you to book onto events or make purchases in College by tapping your University card.

Getting Online

Brasenose students can get online by joining either of two available wifi networks, or by connecting to the wired network with an ethernet cable.

Wifi Networks

Brasenose students can use two wireless networks: BrasenoseWifi & Eduroam. We recommend that you set yourself up on both networks.

  • Brasenose Wifi is available in Brasenose buildings i.e. the main College site and the annexes. Before arriving at Brasenose you can retrieve your personal BrasenoseWifi key by visiting https://www.bnc.ox.ac.uk/mynetwork (activated SSO required).

Detailed instructions on how to join BrasenoseWifi can be found here: https://freshers.bnc.ox.ac.uk/getting-online-at-brasenose/

  • Eduroam is available in all Oxford University buildings and libraries, plus hospitals and other universities. You can install the Eduroam CAT tool on your devices before you arrive by following the guide here: https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/how-to-connect-to-eduroam (you will need to activate your SSO and RASSO before you can connect)

There is good WiFi coverage in almost all bedrooms. If you have poor WiFi coverage in your room, the IT department may be able to help – please email computer.office@bnc.ox.ac.uk and include your room number.

Wired Network

Brasenose has a wired network socket in every bedroom that provides fast (1000Mb/s), secure internet access.

Detailed instructions on how to join the wired network can be found here: https://freshers.bnc.ox.ac.uk/getting-online-at-brasenose/

Office 365 and OneDrive

As a student at Oxford you can install Office 365 for free on up to five devices, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook and more, so there is no need to purchase any productivity software before you arrive.  You will be able access Office 365 once you have set up your SSO.  This is handled by your Office 365 email account, which will be active after you have activated your SSO. 

Office 365 also comes with OneDrive, which is a cloud backup solution that can (and should!) be used to regularly back up your data. OneDrive has a storage capacity of 100GB per student and can be configured to synchronise changes to your files to the cloud in real-time, meaning you don’t lose your work in the event of a problem with your device. You can access your files stored on OneDrive from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection.

The University is unsympathetic if you fail to hand in your dissertation or other work on time due to IT issues.  Retrieving lost work on broken devices is an extremely unreliable process and usually unsuccessful, and it’s best not to have to do it in the first place. It is even worse if your device is stolen! Even just emailing important documents to yourself can help. 

More information about Office 365 and a guide to installation can be found here: https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/office-365-download

Information on how to set up OneDrive can be found here: https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/onedrive-for-business

Email

All students have a University email account which will be available once their SSO has been activated. Email addresses for Brasenose students usually follow the format firstname.lastname@bnc.ox.ac.uk.

You can access your email via the web by visiting https://outlook.office.com and logging in with your SSO; there are also guides for how to configure an email client on various devices and platforms here: https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/how-to-configure-your-email-client

IT Security

IT security is a complex topic, but it is essential that everyone has a firm grasp of the best ways to safely browse the web and keep devices secure.  It is something you must take responsibility for yourself as end user habits are the most important aspect of IT security.

Every device that uses the College/University network must have up to date antivirus software and the latest security patches for their operating system. Make sure you check for updates on your device(s) regularly to ensure they remain as secure as possible. All Oxford students can make use of Sophos Antivirus which is provided for free by the University for the duration of your studies, with versions available for Windows, Mac and Linux, so there is no need to spend money on antivirus software before you arrive.

Details of how to download and install Sophos on various operating systems can be found here: https://www.infosec.ox.ac.uk/endpoint

More information on other steps you can take to protect your devices can be found here: https://www.infosec.ox.ac.uk/protect-my-computer

Printing

There is good provision of communal printers around college, and you can print to any of these printers directly from a PC in one of the computer rooms, or from your own device by logging into the Brasenose WebPrint Service (active SSO required).

For single-sided printing, black & white costs 4p a sheet and colour costs 8p a sheet, with paper provided. To save money and the environment we recommend printing double sided if possible (price drops to 3.5p black & white/7.5p colour), so it is not really worth bringing your own printer to Brasenose.

Brasenose Library provides free photocopying. There is no need to pay up front for your printing – you will be charged at the end of each term for your printing usage. A guide is available on the Brasenose Intranet once you have access to this resource.

University Services/Useful Links

There are many services that the university and college offer, all of which (unless indicated otherwise) use the Single Sign On to log on:

Student Self Service: You can find your enrolment certificate here as well as exam entry and results.

Self-Registration: From here you can download software you might need for your degree such as Matlab, as well as change settings for your email and reset your SSO/RASSO passwords.

Nexus Email: Access your University email account here. Use your standard SSO login.

OxCort: Where you can find reports by your tutors.  Click the box in the top right to log in.

Solo: The Bodleian libraries website with information about almost every library in oxford. You can use this to find which libraries might have a book you are looking for as well as information about your loans.

Web Print: Go here to print documents from any computer to any college printer.  Use your standard SSO login.

Upay: From here you can top up your bod card balance, pay batels and book formal dinners.  The username is your university email address (SSO login also available).

Canvas: Most departments use this for things such as lecture notes, tutorial sheets and timetables. Use your standard SSO login.

University IT Services:  Go here for lots of advice, guides and more about IT at Oxford.