Key facts

Types	Residential Programmes Summer Schools -
Start date	Jun 2013
Subject area(s)	Combined Studies
Fees	From £1,180
Application status	Closed to new applications
Application deadline	Wed 01 May 2013
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email ipoxex@conted.ox.ac.uk or telephone +44 (0)1865 270427.

Overview

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 six weeks.

You choose from over 60 different courses in the following broad areas:

• Archaeology & Early History
• Art, Music, 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 Features

• Week-long residential summer courses
• From 30 June - 10 August 2013
• At Christ Church, Oxford
• Accessible courses in the humanities
• Small study groups taught by friendly tutors
• Designed for an international audience of all ages

Fees and Supplements

• Programme Fee: £1,180
• Single Ensuite Supplement optional: £180
• Twin Ensuite Supplement optional: £90
• Excursion Fee where applicable: £50-100

All fees are charged on a per week, per person basis.

Joining Notes

The Joining Notes for the Oxford Experience are now available. Please click here to download a copy.

Programme details

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:

• Paradise in an English Garden
• The Forgotten Tudors: Edward, Jane and Mary
• The Victorian and Edwardian Home
• The Gothic Novel
• Treasures of the Ashmolean Museum
• Music at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I
• Dickens the Crime Writer
• The Black Death
• Jane Austen's Heroines
• The World of the Vikings
• Mutiny and Punishment on the High Seas

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 local historic houses
• Display of tradition Morris dancing
• A literary walking tour of Oxford
• Croquet in the Masters' Garden
• Insiders' tour of Christ Church
• An introduction to the single malt whiskies of Scotland
• Excursion to Blenheim Palace

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.

'We loved the Oxford Experience! This has been a truly enchanting visit to Oxford. It was our first time, but rest assured, it will not be the last.'
Ann Angel-Parker, USA

'From the directors to the tutors, from the custodians to the Hall catering staff, the experience was truly a Wonderland…and not just because Alice lived here and Lewis Carroll taught here. I can’t wait to return!'
Cary Rice, USA

'The ‘Experience’ was excellent. At the beginning of the week, I couldn’t believe how many people had been before. I thought it doubtful I’d want to return. I was wrong and hope to return.'
Alicia Kennedy, USA

'The only part [of the Oxford Experience] I don’t like is that I have to leave.'
Edward Jones, USA

'The whole experience of the Oxford Experience was wonderful! Great accommodation in a college that has such character, great food, the friendliest staff, all the social events, tours and excursions and, last but not least, tutors of great quality who really made our stay here worthwhile.'
Nina Rainer, USA

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 Wi-Fi 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 (either online or 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.

Notice

Due to exceedingly high demand, we no longer have any accommodation available. We can still accept a small number of non-resident applications.

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.

Modules in this programme

The following modules can be studied as part of this programme:

• Archaeology (3)
• An Introduction to Archaeology
• The Age of Stonehenge
• The Architecture and Archaeology of Medieval Churches
• Architecture (4)
• Cathedrals of Britain
• Colleges of Oxford
• Living Buildings: Architecture and Religious Experience
• Creative Writing (1)
• Creative Writing: Page Fright - And How to Overcome It
• Film Studies (1)
• The English Country House in Film and Literature
• History British (16)
• Bishop Odo and the Bayeux Tapestry
• British Spies in Fact and Fiction, 1900-2013
• Great Victorians: The Verdict of History
• Henry VIII: Renaissance Monarch
• Lost Gods and Old Religions
• Music at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I
• Mutiny and Punishment on the High Seas
• The Age of Churchill
• The Beatles, Popular Music and Sixties Britain
• The Black Death
• The Elizabethan World
• The Forgotten Tudors: Edward, Jane and Mary
• The Life and Times of Richard III
• The Real Queen Victoria
• The Victorian and Edwardian Home
• The Wars of the Roses
• History German (1)
• From Bismarck to Hitler: The Rise and Fall of a Superpower
• History Indian (1)
• The Indian Empire
• History Medieval (1)
• The World of the Vikings
• History of Art (1)
• A Journey Through Painting, 1850-1910
• History of Music (1)
• From the Blues to a Symphony
• History of Science (1)
• British Scientists and Inventors: Triumph, Tragedy and Inspiration
• History Russian (1)
• From Rasputin to Putin: The Russian Enigma
• History Social (1)
• Churches of England
• Horticulture (1)
• Paradise in an English Garden
• Interior Design (2)
• English Country Houses
• International Relations (2)
• Anglo-American Relations and the Making of Modern Britain
• Without Rules: Contemporary Terrorism
• Landscape - Architecture (1)
• Enjoying the Cotswolds
• Linguistics (1)
• History of the English Language
• Literature in its original language (14)
• Alice`s Adventures in Oxford
• Books of Hours: Medieval Best Sellers
• Charles Dickens the Crime Writer
• Jane Austen`s Heroines
• Jane Austen`s People in their Places: `Northanger Abbey` and `Mansfield Park`
• Oxford Murder
• Reading Twentieth-Century Poetry
• Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon
• Spies in British Fiction
• The Gothic Novel
• The Modernist Revolution in Britain: From Forster to Woolf, Sickert to Bomberg
• The Novel and Growing up in the 20th Century
• The Pleasure of Poetry
• Local History (1)
• Cotswold Towns
• Museum studies (2)
• Treasures of the Ashmolean Museum
• Treasures of the British Museum
• Music (3)
• Scandal in Paris: Stravinsky, the Rite and the Birth of Modernism
• The Operas of Verdi
• Neuroscience (1)
• Human Memory and the Brain
• Music and the Human Brain
• Philosophy (2)
• Political Philosophy: Fundamental Questions
• The Philosophy of Emotion
• Physics (2)
• An Introduction to Particle Physics
• An Introduction to Quantum Mechanics and Relativity
• Writing Imaginative (2)
• Mythical Animals: Their Evolution Past and Present

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