I have been at Oxford for 5 days now. My days have been packed with orientations and introductions. Along the way I have picked up lots about Oxford and their system. I found myself asking, “What makes Oxford so great?” The fact that it is the oldest and one of the most prestigious universities in the world, is great, but is the education better? These are questions I will attempt to answer in this post. Although I do not start my studies until Monday, I think I have captured enough to give a good opinion. The post will be interesting because it will give a glimpse at how extremely different their system is.
The best analogy to Oxford’s system that I can think of at the moment (keep in mind I have not had coffee in days) is similar to the federal and state government in the US. The “university level” is like the federal government with rules, regulations, sports, and facilities that the “college level” (like state government) must comply. All students are then enrolled in one of 38 “Colleges” that are all part of the “University” of Oxford. The colleges differ in many ways but all contain every subject and enroll around 400 students in each at a single time. This has a huge impact on education because it is like attending a really small university (called a college in this case). This gives individual attention to everyone. Note: The colleges all have their own small campuses and all share some university buildings.
As if the small size was not enough, Oxford implicates the Tutorial System (this means, no classes!). I will attempt to keep this simple. Basically, four students (in many cases its less) are given a private tutor (who is a professor… with a PhD). I attend a few lectures a week given by an array of people and my personal tutor assigns Homework for these lectures (very few tests are given!). This allows me to pick and choose what I am interested in. It allows me to get a tailored education. Therefore, Oxford students have bizarre combinations of studies such as a major in history, economics, and politics (all in one). This individuality is a huge contributor to what makes Oxford so great!
The last contributor (that I will talk about, anyway), to what is known as an elite education, is Oxford’s environment and expectations. Everyone is smart here (…EVERYONE!) and this inspires a passion to do well. It is as though it is the “cool” thing to do. The academic setting is just unimaginable. Everyone studies everywhere but not because they have too but because they want too. Of course, their are exceptions to this but this is the feeling in the air. I feel as though it is my duty to Oxford (my pride) to find my passion and perform academically. With the tutorial system it makes this even simpler. Is the education better here? I think it is more individualized and this makes learning the same amount just much easier.
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