Sunday, January 14, 2001 | Print this story

OXFORD LITE
The class gets an A, the food gets an F and the summer student gets a short lesson in England's elite education traditions

By CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS, Times Travel Writer

     OXFORD, England--Cue the college choir. Roll the "Brideshead Revisited" footage. Lay out the strawberries and clotted cream.
     And let me begin by saying, ahem, that it's a rich experience, reflecting upon one's days at Oxford. The morning sun through the high stained-glass windows of the dining hall. The undistinguished food on the table. The expertise and eccentricity of one's classmates. The time-honored squalor of the dormitories. The history underfoot and overhead. Even now, one can close one's eyes and see the severe geometry of the Christ Church quadrangle cloaked in the shadows of dusk.
     Those Oxford days were great days. All seven of them.
     OK, mute the choir. The truth is that my wife, Mary Frances, and I came here last summer, stayed a week and then scooted, unburdened by diplomas or aristocratic connections. But we were not mere tourists. We were part of an Oxford University program short on academic rigor, long on atmosphere, erratic in food and lodging, and full of good company. The program, called the Oxford Experience, is run every summer by the university's Department for Continuing Education.
     Our classmates were about 60 half-serious students from North America, Europe and Asia. Thirty-eight were Americans; 14 were retired and the rest were librarians, lawyers, economists, teachers and such. Most were older than 50.
     Beginning with lunch on Sunday and concluding with breakfast the following Saturday, we studied and slept at Christ Church, the largest of the more than 40 colleges and halls that make up Oxford University, about 50 miles northwest of London.
     We ate in its dining hall, which was built in the 16th century and is grand enough to shame most cathedrals in the Americas. We walked to class through that stately quad trodden by Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey in the 15th and 16th centuries, in the 19th by a math professor named Charles L. Dodgson, who
     THINKING TOURS: ENGLAND
     THINKING TOURS: ENGLAND

     GUIDEBOOK
     Hitting the Books in Oxford
     Getting there: United, British Airways, Air New Zealand and Virgin Atlantic fly nonstop from Los Angeles to London. Restricted round-trip fares after June 15 begin at $1,012.
     Getting in: The Oxford Experience runs July 1-Aug. 11. Enrollment deadline is May 1. Fees, which cover tuition, meals and dorm room with shared bath, are about $1,115 at current exchange rates. Some private bathrooms are available for about $125 more.
     Class day trips, which typically run $35-$125 and come up once a week, are not included in those fees.
     For information, contact Program Administrator, the Oxford Experience, University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA, England; telephone 011-44-1865-280-351, fax 011-44-1865-270-314. Like the other Oxford programs mentioned here, it can be reached through the university Department for Continuing Education Web site at http://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/.
     Oxford is also home to the Oxford University Summer School for Adults, whose courses last one or two weeks and typically make stiffer academic demands than the Oxford Experience. Details: University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education, Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA, England; tel. 011-44-1865-270-396, fax 011-44-1865-270-309. (Note: On the Oxford Department for Continuing Education Web site, the OUSSA program is listed under "summer schools for UK students.")
     University programs elsewhere: Oxford's rival, the University of Cambridge, hosts a two-week program aimed specifically at older American students, this year from July 15-28 at the university's Downing College. Cambridge Study Program students choose among five courses. For information, contact University of Cambridge Summer Study Programme, Office of Cooperating Colleges, 714 Sassafras St., Erie, PA 16501; tel. (814) 456-0757, fax (814) 453-5502, Internet http://www.cssp.net/. Cost, including tuition, 13 nights in a dorm room (with private bath), three meals daily and field trips, is $3,550 per person, single or double. With shared bath, the price is $3,300.
     The Cambridge University Board of Continuing Education also offers several summer programs. Details: University of Cambridge, International Programs, Madingley Hall, Madingley, Cambridge CB3 8AQ, England; tel. 011-44-1954-280-280, fax 011-44-1954-280-200, http://www.cont-ed.cam.ac.uk/IntSummer/index.html.
     For more information: The Council on International Educational Exchange, http://www.ciee.org/, collects information on all sorts of academic programs abroad.

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