Special Programs
The Department of English at The University of Texas at Austin has sponsored a summer program at 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. Students live on-campus at Brasenose College, 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 16th-century English college in modern-day Oxford.
The 2008 Oxford Summer Program will begin in Oxford on Saturday, July 12, 2008, and last through Saturday, August 16. 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 to Oxford from London. We will provide detailed instructions of how to reach Brasenose College once in Oxford and the program director will be on hand to meet students as they arrive. Students are free to travel independently in England or Europe before and after the program dates and during the free weekends during 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 Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Castle, and trips to Bath and Lyme Regis, and through the Hampshire countryside . 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.
View Summer 2008 Course Descriptions
The program fee per student is $7200. This figure includes a private room, breakfast, and dinner for the length of the program, coach travel for program events, entrance fees and theater tickets for all program trips, and a final banquet. Each student must also pay separately for UT summer tuition and fees, airfare and any other independent travel expenses, insurance, personal items, and lunches.
Payments are due as follows: $1000 with your application (to hold your place); $2000 by February 18, 2008; $2000 by March 24, 2008; and the remaining $2200 by May 5, 2008. The program bills students electronically and students pay their balances directly to the university, either to the Cashier's Office or online. Students who join the program later in the spring pay on an adjusted fee schedule. Students relying on financial aid and scholarships may also pay on a later schedule as their financial aid is released.
There are scholarships available for students who can demonstrate need and who have good academic records. Students applying for program scholarships must submit an Oxford Summer Program financial aid application and budget to the program coordinator in Parlin 114. Awards vary, but usually range from $2000 to $3000. All scholarship applicants are required to apply for IEF scholarships from the C-GEO office. 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 early October. 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.
To apply for the Oxford 2008 program, please submit an application to the program coordinator in Parlin 114. Applications from students in good standing will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.
For additional information, please contact the Program Coordinator
Andrea Giachetti
471-8714
ag28@mail.utexas.edu
or
Program Director
Prof. Elizabeth Scala
471-8375