Oxford University

                                    

      This university town is very beautiful. The oldest university there is Oxford. The first of its colleges was founded in 1249. The university now has thirty-five colleges and about thirteen thousand students, many of them from other countries.

There were no women at Oxford until 1878. When the first women's college Lady Margaret Hall, opened. Now most colleges are open to men and women. It is not easy to get a place at Oxford University to study for a degree.

But outside the university there are many smaller private colleges which offer less difficult courses and where it is easy to enrol. Most students in these private school take business, secretarial or English language courses.

         Worcester College

     

Worcester College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1714. The college is located on the site of Gloucester College, which was founded in 1283 as place of study by a Benedictine Abbey. Eventually fifteen abbeys shared the college. In 1539 the abbeys were dissolved. For a time, the college served as the palace of the bishop of Oxford. In 1560, the buildings were purchased by Thomas White, and became known as Gloucester Hall. Some of the original buildings survive today.

The main quadrangle of Worcester College; on the left are the medieval buildings known as "the cottages", the most substantial surviving part of Gloucester College, Worcester's predecessor.

Course overview

A large part of tuition is provided by the tutors inside the College but undergraduates will have the opportunity of working with tutors in other colleges from their first year when they are working on their Optional Subjects, General History, and Further and Special Subjects, in the selection of which they are given the widest choice. The tutors normally organise a field trip for Historians in their second year as a part of the course. Grants are available for those wishing to travel abroad in the vacations and to attend language courses.

Applying

The History tutors welcome applications both before and after A-level. Applicants to read History need not have studied any particular period of history. They are seeking candidates who show an enthusiasm for their subject, who can analyse their material intelligently, argue cogently and clearly, and can write lucidly and succinctly. Although there is no language requirement, tutors are keen to encourage historians to acquire or maintain a good working knowledge of at least one modern or ancient language and every assistance will be given to those wishing to work up or improve their language abilities.

Postgraduate students at Worcester have a subject-based academic supervisor, who may be a member of any college, but they are also assigned a College Adviser, one of Worcester's academic staff, who takes a general interest in their progress and is on hand to offer help and advice, if needed.

There are eleven reasons , as they say, why they think Worcester is such a popular choice:

1. They have a strong academic reputation, as evidenced by their position in the Norrington Table, and their students benefit from their Tutors’ and Lecturers’ expertise.
2. Worcester is famed for its friendliness and welcoming community of 600 students (400 undergraduates and 200 graduates).
3. Being in the city centre, their location is convenient for departments, faculties and libraries, as well as for all the amenities Oxford has to offer, including shops, restaurants, museums and theatres.
4. They  offer all undergraduates accommodation for three years of their degree. They have a range of options available (two thirds of which are en-suite) and all rooms are either on site or no more than 300yds from the perimeter.
5. Great sports facilities on your doorstep - they  are the only college to have their sports pitch on site. There are various Worcester sports teams and they have a Boathouse on the Thames.
6. Worcester boasts 26 acres of beautiful grounds, including a lake, giving students relaxed and tranquil surroundings to enjoy.
7. They  benefit from an excellent library, whose modern reading room contains some 65,000 volumes and whose magnificent Old Library houses collections of European importance. There is also a separate Law library.
8. A fantastic range of extra-curricular activities led by the Junior Common Room (JCR), including music, sport and drama, and many more. 
9. Great food at reasonable prices.
10. Students grants for travel and research projects and Funds to help students in financial difficulty.
11. A well-developed and effective welfare provision, including the Deanery, College Nurse and Doctor, dedicated JCR reps, and peer supporters.

The lake and the playing field

Sainsbury Building (which won the Civic Trust Award in 1984)