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The Oxford Experience

Overview

Programme Director: David Beard

The Oxford Experience: More than a Summer School

• Week-long residential summer courses
• From 4 July – 7 August 2010
• At Christ Church, Oxford
• Accessible courses in the humanities
• Small study groups taught by friendly tutors
• Designed for an international audience of all ages

For a full list of all courses, please click here

Description

A Unique Opportunity
The Oxford Experience is a residential summer programme of one-week courses in a variety of subjects aimed at non-specialists. It offers a choice of ten or so seminars each week over a period of five weeks.

You choose from over 50 different courses in the following broad areas:

• Archaeology & Early History
• Art, Music, Cinema, Houses & Gardens
• Literature, Folklore & Creative Writing
• Modern History & Politics
• Natural & Social Sciences

The Oxford Experience gives you a unique opportunity to sample life in Christ Church, one of the University’s most impressive and beautiful colleges.

Programme details

An Invitation
We invite you to join us in summer 2010 to help celebrate 20 highly successful years of the Oxford Experience.

Everyone is Welcome
The Oxford Experience is open to everyone, so you don’t need any formal qualifications to follow a course.

Spoilt for Choice
With so many different courses available on a bewildering array of topics, there really is something of interest for everyone. Here are just a few of our stimulating courses:

• Jane Austen’s Heroines
• Colleges of Oxford
• The Battle of Britain Revisited
• Riot and Rebellion in Shakespeare’s London
• The British Empire
• Alice’s Adventures in Oxford
• Scientific Breakthroughs of the Twentieth Century
• The Brain and Human Behaviour

For a full list of all courses, please click here

Small, Friendly Classes
The classes meet in small, friendly groups of up to twelve people. On your course, you’ll meet people of all ages and from all walks of life who share an interest in their chosen subject.

Your tutors have all been specially selected not only for their subject expertise, but also for their considerable experience in teaching adult students. You will find them friendly, approachable and, above all, highly supportive.

A Magnificent Learning Environment
Your classes are held in the splendour of Christ Church, Oxford’s largest college, which occupies a 140-acre site in the centre of the city. Founded in 1546, and including Oxford's cathedral, the college lies to the southeast of the Carfax crossroads and is bordered by the rivers Cherwell and Isis.

A Well-Balanced Programme
It’s a summer course, so we appreciate that most people would like to enjoy a balance of study time and free time. After breakfast, there are generally two ninety-minute classes each morning with a coffee break in between. Then, after lunch, there’s plenty of time to take part in a number of optional excursions or to relax in and around Oxford.

Course-Related Excursions
Many of our seminars offer a full-day excursion to a course-related place of interest. Tutors will normally accompany and lead their groups on these excursions. Please note that there is a supplementary charge for each excursion and that you may not join excursions relating to other courses.

When you read a course description, you’ll see that each tutor has assigned a rating of easy, moderate, or demanding to each course-related excursion. This rating reflects the amount or type of walking involved. Please bear this in mind when choosing your course.

Enjoy a Lively Social Programme
Each week we invite you to take advantage of our wide-ranging and lively social programme which includes guided visits, special guest lectures and entertaining cultural events. These vary from week to week and normally incur an additional charge:

• Visit to the Cotswolds
• Strawberries and wine in the Masters’ Garden
• Display of traditional Morris Dancing
• Oxford rivers and Castle Walk
• Excursion to Blenheim Palace
• 'Alice in Waterland’ Walk
• Visit to Kelmscott Manor
• Whisky Tasting Evening
• Display of traditional thatching techniques
• Summer Evening Concert
• Shakespeare’s ‘Winter’s Tale’ in Stratford-upon-Avon

On several evenings each week, you can also relax and enjoy a drink with friends in Christ Church’s popular ‘Buttery’ Bar.

Your Invitation to ‘High Table’
It’s not every day that you dine at ‘Hogwarts School’. During your course, you will receive an invitation to dine on ‘High Table’ in Christ Church’s majestic and imposing Tudor Hall, replicated in the popular Harry Potter films.

An Amazing Experience
As you leave the hustle and bustle of Oxford’s busy streets and pass through the main gate at Christ Church, you enter the serene academic world of Oxford’s largest college. From the minute you walk beneath Christopher Wren’s Tom Tower, the magic of Christ Church will hold you in its spell.

Christ Church has provided the setting for parts of the television series ‘Brideshead Revisited’, as well as for Lewis Carroll's ‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland’. In recent years, it has featured in the Harry Potter films, and in ‘The Golden Compass’, an adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel ‘Northern Lights’.

Uniquely, as an Oxford Experience participant, you will enjoy privileged access to many areas of this college closed to the general public.

Truly Unforgettable
We thought you might like to discover how last year’s participants found their Oxford Experience.

One of the highlights of my life…The Oxford Experience is a must-do for anyone at any age
Jamie Coker, USA

Signing up for one week is smart; signing up for two weeks is brilliant
Marlene L. Spigner, USA

This has truly been one of the best experiences of my life. I cannot thank you enough for everything. The Oxford Experience has breathed life back into my soul…I truly feel as though I lived the life of an Oxford man. Thank you
Michael Crowley, USA

Click here to read more feedback from our participants

Funding Opportunities for European Teachers
If you are a European teacher, financial support may be available through the Socrates Lingua, Grundtvig or Comenius schemes.

What’s included in your Course Fees
Included in your course fees are all of the following:

• All tuition costs
• 6 nights' accommodation
• Full board including Gala Dinner
• Welcome reception in Tom Quad
• Morning break tea/coffee & biscuits
• Free internet access in the Junior Common Room
• Evening guest lecture
• Closing reception in the Masters’ Garden
• End-of-course certificate

Also, if you book two or more courses, complimentary Saturday bed & breakfast accommodation is provided.

Exploring Oxford and the surrounding area
Oxford boasts a lively cultural and social life all year round. Whether you’re looking for world class museums, theatres, cinemas, restaurants or traditional English pubs, you’ll find them in abundance. During your course, please visit our Oxford Experience office at Christ Church for information on what’s on and details of popular excursions to London, Bath, the Cotswolds and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Accommodation

A Slice of Student Life
During your course, you will stay in typical Oxford student accommodation at Christ Church in buildings which range from the 18th to the 20th century. Bedrooms are modestly-furnished, do not have air-conditioning and are arranged in a staircase of four or five floors.

All standard bedrooms are singles. In a few buildings the bedrooms are arranged in ‘twin sets’ (two single bedrooms opening off a sitting room) and all have their own washbasin and shaver point. The bath and/or toilet facilities on each staircase are shared.

A very limited number of rooms have private bathroom facilities (shower, washbasin and toilet) and these are available for an additional fee. Most are single rooms, but a few are twin-bedded. Early application for these rooms is essential.

Please indicate your accommodation preferences on your application form, together with a note of any mobility problems.

We regret that we are unable to offer you accommodation at Christ Church immediately prior to or following your course. Additionally, family or friends who are not enrolled in the programme cannot be accommodated in college.

Disabled Participants (including those with mobility difficulties)

We aim to treat all participants equally and welcome applications from people with disabilities. Individuals’ needs are taken into account as far as possible, providing reasonable adaptations and assistance within the resources available. We ask you to inform us of any disability or special need (confidentially, if required) so that we can help you participate as fully as possible.

If you are considering applying for a place on the Oxford Experience and have mobility difficulties or visual/hearing impairments, you may wish to contact the Programme Administrator to discuss your needs as the age and layout of Christ Church College could prove user unfriendly in some cases.

Oxford, as an ancient city, tends to be difficult to navigate for people with disabilities. The number of very old buildings, designed in an age less sensitive to issues of disability, makes access to the city centre difficult. That said, we aim to do as much as we can to make your study with us possible.

Please contact us if you require a ground-floor bedroom, or if you feel you may have difficulty accessing teaching rooms located on upper floors.

New for 2010 – Lift to Christ Church Dining Hall
There is a now a lift available to Christ Church’s Tudor Dining Hall where all Oxford Experience meals are served.