The IFSA-Butler College Summer Program at Oxford University is based at Magdalen College, one of Oxford's oldest colleges and is located in the heart of Oxford close to libraries, museums, theaters, and shops.
All weeks of the Summer School are teaching weeks, with the emphasis shifting towards concluding reviews and study field visits in the final week. Courses are taught through an integrated programme of tutorials, seminars and lectures in combinations varying from Option to Option.
The weekly tutorial is at the heart of every Course, with a small group of 1-5 students discussing papers, prepared in advance, with their tutor. Seminars bring together a larger group of perhaps 8–10 students to participate in more general discussions of common subjects related to the various Options of each Course.
In the weekly tutorial, the tutor leads a discussion about the week’s essay topic in an effort to provide new insights. At the end of the tutorial, the tutor will assign a new topic and recommend appropriate reading. Students will share tutorials with other North American summer program students (i.e., this is NOT an immersion program with British students!), and seminars will supplement tutorials with the goal of deepening the understanding of the academic topics.
Beyond coursework, students from Academic and Professional Courses attend weekly evening interdisciplinary lectures on cultural, political, historical, literary, environmental and other issues of topical and general interest.All participants on the program participate in field excursions, which are organized each week except for the first week of the summer program. The field excursions are designed to enrich studies and to introduce students to sites of exceptional importance in England’s literary heritage.
This program generally runs from early July to mid-August.