Arthur Frommer Online: If you apply now, you can snare space at Oxford University for the coming summer

Oct 12, 2007

If you apply now, you can snare space at Oxford University for the coming summer

I've written before about spending a summer week at Oxford, in the adult version of a child's "let's pretend." As an adult summer student, using every facility of this hallowed British institution other than a black gown (you aren't allowed to wear one), you enjoy the fantasy of Brideshead Revisited, in the settings you've seen described in scores of famous novels, in this city (Oxford) of "dreaming spires" and in a fifteenth century Gothic hall where you take meals in a Harry Potter-like dining hall.

There are numerous programs for attending Oxford in summer, and some of them are quite rigorous, requiring advance reading and the preparation of a weekly paper that you read to your "don," a teaching master. The contrast to those intensive bouts of study is a program called "The Oxford Experience," which is all pleasure. You attend exhilarating lectures, but aren't required to take a single test or prepare a single essay. As you'd expect, applications are heavy for "The Oxford Experience," and courses are often booked out by Christmas, long before the formal April deadline for submitting applications.

The Oxford Experience for 2008 has just been scheduled and announced, and I can't think of a better way to describe it than by quoting verbatim from its press release:

The Oxford Experience means studying, living and dining at Christ Church, one of the most prestigious and beautiful of Oxford colleges, which was founded by Cardinal Wolsey almost five centuries ago. The residential program, which takes place from June 29 to August 2, 2008, offers one-week courses designed for those who would enjoy such varied subjects as A History of the English Language, Jane Austen, Enjoying the Cotswolds, William the Conqueror, The Oxford Movement, An Introduction to Philosophy, Monasteries and Cathedrals, The Making of England and Romantic Poetry. A choice of some 50 subjects is offered during the five week program.

Participants in The Oxford Experience stay in student accommodations -- though rooms with private bath are available -- and dine in the magnificent Hall, lined with portraits of famous figures of British history. Three meals daily are included in the cost of the program: a full English breakfast, a buffet lunch and a served three-course dinner. Once a week each student is invited to dine at the High Table and, on the final night, everyone gathers for champagne in the Cathedral Garden and a celebratory farewell dinner in the Hall.

Throughout the week there are optional daytime excursions to stately homes such as Blenheim Palace and Kelmscott Manor, tours of Christ Church, Oxford and the Bodleian Library. Evening events include pub walks, whisky tastings, Morris Dancers, croquet and wine in the Masters Garden, special lectures and Evensong in the college chapel, which is also the Oxford Cathedral.

The price of a one-week course -- including tuition, accommodations and all meals (except those on excursions) is £980, or approximately $1,960. There are additional charges for excursions and rooms with private bath. The registration deadline is April 1, 2008, but early application is recommended and even encouraged: Those who register by December 1, 2007 receive an early booking discount of £50 per week for weeks 1 to 4 and £100 per week for week 5.

A complete descriptive brochure is available online at www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/international/oxfordexperience.asp.

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Labels: education, england, student travel