Oxford University Key Facts

Oxford University’s approach to learning is influenced perhaps as much by the examination system as by the pattern of tutorials and lectures. Oxford University has long insisted on a divorce between teaching and examining. While primarily the body of college Fellows performs the former function, University boards of examiners with whom students have not studied at first hand perform the latter. This arrangement contributes to the development of a sense of partnership between student and tutor. The challenge to the student is to master a body of material and to demonstrate abilities in analysing it; the challenge to the tutor is to nurture the student’s powers to do so. Colleges take great pride in the successful performance of their students in the University examinations.

Some of the features of Oxford’s special system of undergraduate education are also evident in the Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.) degrees, which have become the most popular choice for postgraduates. These degree courses, available mostly in arts and social science disciplines, offer a combination of small group or even individual instruction with classroom instruction, lectures and research.