Academic Programme:

Tutorials

All weeks of the Summer School are teaching weeks, with the emphasis shifting towards concluding reviews and study field visits in the final week. Courses are taught through an integrated programme of tutorials, seminars and lectures in combinations varying from Option to Option.

The weekly tutorial is at the heart of every Course, with a small group of 1-5 students discussing papers, prepared in advance, with their tutor. Seminars bring together a larger group of perhaps 8–10 students to participate in more general discussions of common subjects related to the various Options of each Course.

Keynote Lectures & Speakers

While the tutorial stimulates exploration of subjects in detail and depth, seminars provide opportunities to broaden the debate and widen understanding of the issues involved.

Keynote lectures may be used to provide a foundation to each Option.

Tutorials and seminars, usually of 1.5 – 2 hours duration, involve intensive preparation and writing of essays by the students, through guided but independent reading. Students are registered as readers with the world famous Bodleian Library, with incomparable holdings and stately reading rooms, as well as the College library and other appropriate university and department libraries.

Interdisciplinary Lectures

Beyond coursework, students from Academic and Professional Courses attend weekly evening interdisciplinary lectures on cultural, political, historical, literary, environmental and other issues of topical and general interest.

Given by distinguished speakers from the university and wider world, they range from the serious to the light-hearted, set in a social context of receptions and banquet dinners.

One such week is usually devoted to a musical event.