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BRITISH EDUCATION
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What Makes Oxford University Special?
admin
2014-06-18
What Makes Oxford University Special?
최정윤
The day after the last day of Honour Moderation, my first public examination at Oxford, my friends and I were sitting in a punting boat with sun shining on us and ducks vigorously following us quacking for food. That was the climax and the last day of my first year in the oldest English-speaking Tour d’ivoire.
Oxford accommodates about eleven thousand undergraduate Oxonians in 39 colleges. There are about 30 South Korean undergraduates. Oxford is a collegiate university employing federal system of colleges. Many, who are not familiar with the system, find it difficult to grasp the concept of the collegiate university. If, however, you are familiar with Harry Potter, the system is not too different from that of Hogwarts having four different houses, at least to just get the idea of it. Oxford Colleges select and admit undergraduate students, provide accommodation, facilities, tutorials as well as pastoral care, while the University organizes lectures and courses, sets and marks examinations, provides wider range of facilities and etc.
Applying to Oxford is similar to applying to any other universities except that you may choose a college of your preference, that you have to write one more personal statement and that you may not apply to Cambridge at the same time. Students select different colleges with different reasons. Personally, my choice was based on how far it was from my department and weather it provided accommodation for all three years of my course. Students base their choice on faculty members, competitiveness, tradition, facilities and so on. Depending on your background, you are given either a conditional or unconditional offer after or without an interview once your application has been selected. The interview at Oxford is an intensive process that can last for days. I was exhausted after mine, but it certainly felt great to survive, especially after struggling very hard to answer questions that I never expected.
Oxford accommodates about eleven thousand undergraduate Oxonians in 39 colleges. There are about 30 South Korean undergraduates. Oxford is a collegiate university employing federal system of colleges. Many, who are not familiar with the system, find it difficult to grasp the concept of the collegiate university. If, however, you are familiar with Harry Potter, the system is not too different from that of Hogwarts having four different houses, at least to just get the idea of it. Oxford Colleges select and admit undergraduate students, provide accommodation, facilities, tutorials as well as pastoral care, while the University organizes lectures and courses, sets and marks examinations, provides wider range of facilities and etc.
Applying to Oxford is similar to applying to any other universities except that you may choose a college of your preference, that you have to write one more personal statement and that you may not apply to Cambridge at the same time. Students select different colleges with different reasons. Personally, my choice was based on how far it was from my department and weather it provided accommodation for all three years of my course. Students base their choice on faculty members, competitiveness, tradition, facilities and so on. Depending on your background, you are given either a conditional or unconditional offer after or without an interview once your application has been selected. The interview at Oxford is an intensive process that can last for days. I was exhausted after mine, but it certainly felt great to survive, especially after struggling very hard to answer questions that I never expected.
Matriculation at Sheldonian theatre dressed in subfusc clothing, a black, traditional gown wore on top of a black suit with a cap in your hands, after having served lunch and sherry at the hall with all new members of the college and faculty members, was an extraordinary experience. I couldn’t help but laugh walking down the streets from my college to the theatre. All the tourists, more than usual it seemed, were staring at us looking like penguins on wholesale migration. I did not realize then, that I had to dress up in the same why for Honour Moderation at the end of the year but this time with a white, pink or red carnation on my chest for the first, the in-betweens and the last exam.
At Oxford, unlike Korean or American universities, you are taught the subject of your choice only. Although there are combined courses like PPE, teaching philosophy, politics and economics, you don’t get to choose any elective subjects for credit. This system partially reflects the British education system and its philosophy. I believe that this system expects its participants to be more mature in terms of knowing where their interests lay in academia, therefore allowing students to take advantage of the university as the highest educational institution engaging in highly specialized teaching and learning from the moment they enter the university. This system also allows courses to be relatively shorter.
Time management is one of the most important keys to a successful life at Oxford. There are three terms of eight weeks, six months in total. There is only one public examination a year at most that counts towards your final grade. Your grade for the first year examination does not even count towards your final grade. It is required for you to go on to the second year. At Oxford, you are flooded with different opportunities and at the same intensive workload. You have to schedule your own learning throughout a year or two. Nobody tests you or quizzes you to keep you in track but tutorials and collections which don’t count towards your grade either. The unique tutorial system of Oxford allows students to learn and to interact with professors or lectures in one to one or with one or two other students. Tutorials provide students with opportunities for in-depth learning and support for the coursework. Therefore, as long as you are mature enough to manage your own time you can join as many societies as possible, may it be origami, rowing or the Oxford Union, and enjoy extra curricular opportunities.
At Oxford, tradition is well blended in the vigorously changing world of academia. The controversy of the time resides at Oxford. From centuries ago to this very moment, Oxford has been the focus of learning and intellectual debates. There is a place where Darwin’s Origin of Species was first discussed in public, where Locke was writing and where the leading evolutionist Richard Dawkins and the leading theologian Alister McGrath are writing and discussing about the God delusion and the Dawkins delusion. With its firmly ground pride and tradition Oxford University is never lazy to put steps forward to allow the best learning and research environment for its students and fellows, therefore maintaining its status as an essential part of the focus of academia.
It was not difficult to realize how privileged I was to study at Oxford. Tutors checked my status at an individual level and offered me guidelines and help. ‘Scouts’even cleaned my private bathroom. At Oxford, at University in general your responsibility is, and has to be I believe, for your learning, your mature self and what you are going to make of it in the future. In Oxford city, at Oxford University, surrounded by centuries-old antique buildings and Bodleian libraries sheltering history as well as every book ever published in England, while today’s leading scientists and philosophers are walking pass by, you feel like you are truly living in an isolated Ivory Tower. However, it is never really isolated, because it is an open ended pathway, just well shielded to protect you while you hatch, leading to your future, which could be bright or not so bright depending on how you live it. Life at Oxford, at university in general is not only about what the university is like but how you are going to live it. At Oxford or other world’s leading universities, it is just that the opportunity cost is large as well as the gain given the same input.
At Oxford, unlike Korean or American universities, you are taught the subject of your choice only. Although there are combined courses like PPE, teaching philosophy, politics and economics, you don’t get to choose any elective subjects for credit. This system partially reflects the British education system and its philosophy. I believe that this system expects its participants to be more mature in terms of knowing where their interests lay in academia, therefore allowing students to take advantage of the university as the highest educational institution engaging in highly specialized teaching and learning from the moment they enter the university. This system also allows courses to be relatively shorter.
Time management is one of the most important keys to a successful life at Oxford. There are three terms of eight weeks, six months in total. There is only one public examination a year at most that counts towards your final grade. Your grade for the first year examination does not even count towards your final grade. It is required for you to go on to the second year. At Oxford, you are flooded with different opportunities and at the same intensive workload. You have to schedule your own learning throughout a year or two. Nobody tests you or quizzes you to keep you in track but tutorials and collections which don’t count towards your grade either. The unique tutorial system of Oxford allows students to learn and to interact with professors or lectures in one to one or with one or two other students. Tutorials provide students with opportunities for in-depth learning and support for the coursework. Therefore, as long as you are mature enough to manage your own time you can join as many societies as possible, may it be origami, rowing or the Oxford Union, and enjoy extra curricular opportunities.
At Oxford, tradition is well blended in the vigorously changing world of academia. The controversy of the time resides at Oxford. From centuries ago to this very moment, Oxford has been the focus of learning and intellectual debates. There is a place where Darwin’s Origin of Species was first discussed in public, where Locke was writing and where the leading evolutionist Richard Dawkins and the leading theologian Alister McGrath are writing and discussing about the God delusion and the Dawkins delusion. With its firmly ground pride and tradition Oxford University is never lazy to put steps forward to allow the best learning and research environment for its students and fellows, therefore maintaining its status as an essential part of the focus of academia.
It was not difficult to realize how privileged I was to study at Oxford. Tutors checked my status at an individual level and offered me guidelines and help. ‘Scouts’even cleaned my private bathroom. At Oxford, at University in general your responsibility is, and has to be I believe, for your learning, your mature self and what you are going to make of it in the future. In Oxford city, at Oxford University, surrounded by centuries-old antique buildings and Bodleian libraries sheltering history as well as every book ever published in England, while today’s leading scientists and philosophers are walking pass by, you feel like you are truly living in an isolated Ivory Tower. However, it is never really isolated, because it is an open ended pathway, just well shielded to protect you while you hatch, leading to your future, which could be bright or not so bright depending on how you live it. Life at Oxford, at university in general is not only about what the university is like but how you are going to live it. At Oxford or other world’s leading universities, it is just that the opportunity cost is large as well as the gain given the same input.
[영국 명품교육 이야기] 선.생.님. 수.기. 8.
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