The City of Oxford, 1850-1914

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

To examine the social, cultural and economic history of Oxford's 'town' (as opposed to 'gown') in the Victorian and Edwardian periods and to set that history in the context of contemporary developments in English society nationally.

Course Objectives:

• To study developments in housing, education, public services, transport, local government, industry, commerce, leisure and religion in Oxford during the period 1850 to 1914.
• To examine how developments in Oxford related to changes in English society generally during this period.
• To identify, evaluate, interpret and compare appropriate primary sources for Oxford for the period.
• To help students who wish to, to identify and begin research projects of their own.

A range of teaching and learning methods will be used, including short lectures and illustrated presentations from the tutor, reading and interpretation of documents in pairs or small groups, and class discussion. One of the ten sessions will be a guided walk around Oxford, looking at relevant buildings and at the topography of the city. Teaching materials will include copies of texts, maps and images. Students will be expected to read one or two recommended introductory texts before the start of the course and to prepare material from hand-outs for discussion in class. They will be encouraged to follow up their own particular interests by reading more widely, visiting relevant exhibitions and carrying out their own explorations of the city.

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

• have an informed awareness of Oxford's history from 1850 to 1914;
• be conscious of how Oxford's development during this period related to what was happening nationally;
• be able to identify, interpret, evaluate and discuss a range of primary source materials relating to Oxford for this period; 
• have the confidence to engage in research on their own behalf and, if they wish, to have identified a suitable topic for further investigation.

Each week the tutor will provide a hand-out for the following week's session which will include suggested assignments related to the topic of the session. Each student will use these as the basis for four short (375-word) written assignments or for one more detailed (1500-word) written assignment. Alternatively students may pursue a subject of their own choosing in consultation with the tutor.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work the required standard.

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

No special expertise or knowledge will be expected, just a willingness to join in class activities. 

The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.