After your academic year studies at your own university come to Oxford this summer. Combine gaining credits in your chosen subjects with a holiday. Immerse yourself in an international learning community and consider the opportunities of travel in Europe at the end of the course.

St. Clare's has offered the Liberal Arts programme for university undergraduates and gap year students for over 40 years, and has long-standing links to a number of US universities. Our academic staff cover a wide range of subjects and teach at many of the University of Oxford colleges.

Academic Summer Programme in May - June 2009

Contact us for more information about the 2009 course, the fees and what they include. Email manuela.williams@stclares.ac.uk

Courses available

• English Civil War (history 3 credits)

  This course aims to introduce students to the first English Civil War (1642-1646), a conflict between Royalists and Parliamentarians. We will examine the parallel issues and events at a national and local level, emphasizing the causes, course and consequences of this critical 17th century struggle. Oxford was the Royalist capital and, therefore, this area is rich in study visits. Extensive use will be made of local resources.

• British Government and Politics (politics 3 credits)

  This course will introduce students to the British constitution in theory and practice. The course covers British political theory and constitutional development as well as the structure of British institutions.

• World Citizenship in Oxford (philosophy 3 credits)

  This course seeks answers to two philosophical questions: 1) Are humans naturally good? 2) And, how does the answer to this question affect citizenship? These two questions frame for us the discussion of Rousseau's The Social Contract (1762), which articulates the natural goodness position, and Shakespeare's Macbeth (1604), which appears to portray a natural evil in humans. Our discussion is set against the background of Oxford, its rich history, extraordinary architecture, and proximity to Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon.

• Contemporary Global Literature (literature, 3 credits)

  This course explores the impact of place, especially architecture, on the narrative styles of literature. Students learn better when they engage works of literature not only in close readings of and writing about texts produced in Oxford, but also by visiting sites that have a direct connection to those literary works. Texts included in this course that involve Oxford as “place” are those by J.K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. Related readings on Oxford's architecture and its literature are Geoffrey Tyack's Oxford: An Architectural Guide and John Dougill's Oxford in English Literature: The Making, and Undoing, of ‘the English Athens'.

• Eastern Religions (religion 3 credits)

  This course aims to give students a stimulating introduction to the major religions of Asia, focusing on Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, and also exploring Shinto and Confucian traditions. The Indian and East Asian views of the cosmos have shaped the lives of half the globe, and continue to have an increasing influence on Western culture. We will look at the philosophy of reincarnation and liberation, and the arts and rituals of Hinduism and Buddhism. We will go on to see how the movement of Buddhism into South and East Asia blended Indian influences with Taoist, Confucian and Shinto traditions to create profound new approaches to life. Our approach will show how key philosophical ideas give rise to the beliefs and practices that shape people's lives today.
  Students will gain an understanding of the world-views of each tradition, become aware of their historical development, and work closely with classical texts and other Eastern arts; from Hindu love-poems to Krishna, to Japanese haiku.