Compact Course

This short course combines English language classes with academic subject classes. This course is for students with an advanced level of English; IELTS 6.0 is recommended.

The course is made up of the following:

Advanced English Language Skills

  • 10 lessons per week
  • Includes: exploration of contemporary issues through the medium of English
  • Internal assessment and external assessment (CAE, CPE, or IELTS)

Academic Subject classes

  • 2 or 3 lessons per week depending on enrolment
  • Each subject class will include at least two study visits in and around Oxford
  • Students select 3 subject classes from the options below.
Compact Course: academic subject options
Choose three courses from the following subjects
Adaptation Studies International Business in the News Urban Sociology of Oxford
Psychology and the cinema Studio Art Tribes: Identity, Diversity and the notion of tolerance

2 or 3 lessons per week for each subject option

Course Dates and Fees

Dates Tuition Fees
Sunday 3 May - Saturday 13 June 2015 £2,748

Accommodation Options

Self catering 2015
Single Superior £1,968 
Single Standard £1,608 
Twin Superior £1,506 
Twin Standard £1,248 
Homestay 2015 
Single Superior - with private bathroom £1,644
Single Standard - with shared bathroom £1,248 
Homestay includes breakfast and dinner every day  
Add Meals 2015 
Lunch Monday to Friday £246 

Students select 3 subject classes from the following options (these may be subject to change):

Adaptation Studies (Keith Hopper)
The aim of this course is to explore the various ways in which classic works of fiction have been interpreted and adapted for the big screen. Each week we will discuss the original literary text and then look at the production, transmission and reception of the subsequent film, paying close attention to the particular deviations and embellishments involved in the adaptation process. Each week there will a screening of the film under review, and photocopies of relevant film reviews, articles and short stories will be issued in advance of each seminar. For example, some of the texts and films include The Birds (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1963), short story by Daphne Du Maurier and A Clockwork Orange (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1971), novel by Anthony Burgess.

Studio Art (Francesca Shakespeare)
This course will introduce and develop the students’ practical artistic abilities: students will draw from observation, both outdoors and in Oxford’s museums and galleries as well as working in St Clare's well appointed art studio. 

Urban Sociology of Oxford (Peter Claus)
The overwhelming majority of Oxford’s varied population live outside its centre of ‘dreaming spires’ where the university is located. This course will quickly establish the theoretical basis of urban sociology and how space works and use examples from a city that is both ancient and modern to examine both its historical development and its contemporary existence. The emphasis will be on field trips outside the seminar room; examples of field trips include an Oxford college where the medieval and the modern co-exist, the multiculturalism of the eastern part of the city that reflects both Britain's colonial past and its European integration and a site in North Oxford where the class relations and property relations of the 1930s led to a wall erected in the centre of a road to separate public from private housing. 

Psychology and the Cinema (Anna Scarnà)
This course will use the medium of film to present basic psychological theories involving personality, abnormal and social psychology. Students will watch one film per session prior to a class discussion. The main protagonists of each film will be considered in the context of existing personality or diagnostic questionnaires. The history, experimental work and main debates surrounding each film and theory will be covered. Examples of films include Rain Man (for autistic spectrum disorder), As Good As It Gets (obsessive-compulsive disorder), Little Miss Sunshine (coping strategies, extraversion, stress, depression) Super Size Me (attitudes and beliefs, research methods). The course will develop students’ analytical skills and will introduce the concepts of experimental methods, ethics, questionnaire design and diagnostic criteria for psychological disorders.

International Business in the News (Barbara María Vargas Escobar)
The marketplace is becoming increasingly globalized. This affects every aspect of business, even domestic companies that are not involved in the international business system, cannot be isolated from what is happening in the world today. No firm, for example, can be exempt from the consequences of the international financial crisis, or the creation of trade blocks or the direction of capital flows. This course will provide insight into international business strategies in a globalised world. We will cover international trade and international business theory as well as government influence on the pattern of world trade. We will use case studies (e.g., ENRON, Wal- Mart, Nike, Body Shop, Merrill Lynch Bank, Coke and Pepsi, IBM, BP) to discuss the economics and politics of international trade. Global business, finance and economic news will be analysed to understand the impact of international and national economic policy on international businesses. 

Tribes: Identity, Diversity and the notion of Tolerance (Anna Castriota)
In the globally connected world in which we live, many issues (political, economic, religious, etc.) divide peoples. Among the issues that divide peoples, identity and diversity are arguably the most difficult to resolve. This course focuses on the concept of “identity” and how it is used to distinguish and unite us all. We will analyse the concept of “identity” through the following themes: National identity and the politics of multiculturalism; whose rights are right; culture, individual/group identities and tolerance in a globally connected world.

You can contact us for more detailed information about the course, the subjects on offer, how to enrol or any other questions you may have.

Email manuela.williams@stclares.ac.uk or call +44 1865 517707.