Xaverian College is a Roman Catholic college in Manchester, England, south of the city centre in Rusholme. Established in 1862, Xaverian College has become one of the most oversubscribed Sixth form college in Greater Manchester, along with Loreto College and Ashton Sixth Form College. It consistently ranks in the top 10 facilities for 16-18 education. Xaverian College is a member of the Association of Colleges. As of 2019, the acceptance rate is 30%. It is near the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music. As it is in partnership with the University of Manchester, Xaverian houses the foundational courses of Sciences on behalf of UoM and Xaverian College students are also able to access the University of Manchester Library. History 1862-1976 The Xaverian Brothers, or Congregation of St Francis Xavier (CFX), are a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Theodore James Ryken in Bruges, Belgium, in 1839 and named after St. Francis Xavier. The order is dedicated to Roman Catholic education in the United Kingdom, the United States and many other countries. The college was founded by the Xaverian Brothers in 1862 and until 1903 was housed in a four-storey building on Oxford Road, Manchester. On the move to the then gated Victoria Park, it was originally housed in a building known as Firwood, but over time, through new building projects and acquisition, the campus grew. Firwood was home to the Brothers until 1993 when the last of them left. Another former house which has now become part of the college, Ward Hall, was used as a camp for American servicemen in the Second World War. Mancunian Films, a motion picture production company, used the exterior of the college in several of their films, including It's A Grand Life, starring Frank Randle and Diana Dors. The film company sold their Dickenson Road Studios to the BBC in 1954, making Dickenson Road Studios the first regional BBC TV studio. When the BBC left in 1974 to move to Oxford Road, Xaverian inherited their lighting rigs, now used in the drama studio. From 1946 to 1977, the school was a direct grant grammar school. 1977 to present The college was a Roman Catholic grammar school for boys until 1977, when it became a mixed sixth-form college. Direct Grant Grammar School status ended and Xaverian became a Sixth Form College for young men and women aged sixteen to nineteen within