Special Programs
The Department of English at The University of Texas at Austin has sponsored a summer program in Oxford since 1984. The Oxford Summer Program gathers students to enjoy life and literature at Oxford University, the oldest English-speaking university in the world. The 2010 Program will be housed at Wadham College. Students will take one or two upper-division English classes and enjoy many field trips and theatrical performances. This program is a wonderful balance of academics and fun, an opportunity to get to know English Department faculty and other students outside the classroom, and a chance to live in an early 17th-century English college in modern-day Oxford.
View Summer 2010 Course Descriptions
The 2010 Oxford Summer Program will begin in Oxford on Saturday, July 10, 2010, and last through Saturday, August 14. Students are expected to travel to and from Oxford on their own; however, we are happy to give travel advice to anyone who needs it. Most students fly into Heathrow Airport and take one of the frequent buses from London to Oxford. We will provide detailed instructions of how to reach Wadham College once in Oxford City and the Program Director will be on hand to meet students as they arrive. Students are free to travel independently before and after the program dates and during the free weekends of the program.
Although trips and events are related to the individual courses, all students are allowed and encouraged to attend all program trips. Such events include Shakespeare performances at the Globe Theatre in London and at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon and visits to major Shakespeare sites in Stratford. Other trips will likely include the following: visits to Bath, Tintern Abbey, West Wycombe, and Chepstow Castle. The Oxford experience usually includes touring other colleges, visiting the Ashmolean Museum, attending music and drama performances in the college gardens, shopping, socializing, and punting on the Isis.
The 2010 Oxford Summer Program program fees are $6000. The fees cover a private room in Wadham College, breakfasts and most dinners during the program, coach travel for program events, entrance fees and theater tickets for all program trips, a Heritage Pass, and a final banquet.
The Department of English bills the Oxford Summer Program fees electronically and students pay their balances directly to the University, either to the Cashier's Office or online through “What I Owe”. Students who join the program later in the spring pay on an adjusted fee schedule. Students relying on financial aid and scholarships might be able to pay on a later schedule as their financial aid is released and should consult with the Program Coordinator as soon as possible.
The University of Texas at Austin will electronically bill tuition and fees after summer registration. There are many sources of aid available to interested students, including government financial aid, mostly in the form of loans; detailed scholarship and loan information will be available in Parlin 114 in October. Students applying for the Department of English and College of Liberal Arts Oxford Program Scholarships must apply through the Study Abroad Office's Global Assist scholarship database. Awards vary, but usually range from $500 to $3000. Do not be intimidated or discouraged by the cost of this program! Each year, we send many students who thought they couldn't afford it. Most of them use a combination of scholarships and loans.
There is an Oxford Summer Program 2010 Facebook group.
You may download the application form here and return it to the Program Coordinator.
A handout outlining the application process is here.
For additional information, please contact:
Andrea Giachetti, Program Coordinator
471-8714
Prof. Elizabeth Scala, Program Director
scala@mail.utexas.edu