Oxford boasts unique teaching style
The campus of University of Oxford
Nick Rawlins, pro-vice-chancellor and professor of psychology at Oxford.
By Bahk Eun-ji
The University of Oxford is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Around 21,000 students from 138 countries currently attend, ensuring the school is both a center of academic excellence and a truly international community.
What remains so special about the university, the oldest in the English speaking world, is its tutorial style of teaching, according to Nick Rawlins, pro-vice-chancellor and professor of psychology at Oxford.
“What is so nice about it is that it becomes a relationship of trust, between the student and the teacher, because if you really want to learn from the system, you should let the teacher see what you don’t understand, and then you learn how to resolve it,” said Rawlins while visiting Korea in a bid to strengthen its global network and also give valuable advice to talented Korean students interested in studying abroad.
The school makes great efforts to ensure there is an academic relationship between teachers and students based on mutual trust and respect through the tutorial system.
Students are also taught by fellow students in groups on a weekly basis. They can get direct and prompt feedback on their weekly essays through discussions with contemporaries and teachers, and this is the biggest benefit of the system
The following are questions that Professor Rawlins responded to:
Q: Oxford is a leading university in the world. What do you think are the strongest points that it offers? And can you compare it with other leading universities in the world?
A:
While some universities put their efforts into one disciplinary area, Oxford has always been strong across the spectrum. Oxford research is contributing to humanity’s understanding of some of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century.
As far as global governance and leadership is concerned, Oxford has educated 26 British prime ministers, including the current one, David Cameron, as well as at least 30 international leaders.
However, since last year, Oxford University has had its own school of public policy: the new Blavatnik School of Government that offers outstanding graduates a master’s course which examines practices of government on all continents.
The school teaches its students how to operate in a complex, globalized, interconnected world, where scientific understanding is as important as economics and, notably, it takes an approach that isn’t narrowly U.S.-centered.
The university has an extensive influence in the sphere of global health, with a network of international collaborative research centers. Oxford’s world-renowned global health program is a leader in the fight against infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and avian flu
Our strength and sheer size in medicine and science is often overlooked, especially outside the U.K. Oxford is the best university in the world for medical sciences, according to the most recent world rankings of the Times Higher Education newspaper.
Oxford researchers are, together with Chinese universities, hospitals and government agencies, also looking at diabetes, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, cancer and a range of other health issues including mental health such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Q: For those students who are interested in studying abroad, but still prefer universities in the U.S. to those in the U.K. or other European schools, what advice would you give them? Could you compare the education of the University of Oxford with that of U.S universities?
Oxford wants the best postgraduate students in the world to come here and that very clearly includes Korean students. We currently have over 140 students from Korea studying at Oxford. They have a lot to offer us and we believe Oxford has a lot to offer them.
Oxford is more internationally diverse than many U.S. universities. Over one-third of our total study body is international while most of American universities have a substantially lower percentage of international students
We want students with a proven outstanding academic record and a passion for a subject. Extracurricular activities are not taken into account in Oxford’s selection process, which is where we are different from universities in the U.S. Selection for Oxford is based purely on an applicant’s proven ability in a subject.
At the undergraduate level, most British universities expect students to focus on one or possibly two subjects for the duration of their undergraduate degree. The American university system is less specialized; American students are expected to study a wide range of subjects in addition to choosing an area in which they choose to focus.
At postgraduate level, research-degree courses at Oxford are shorter than at American universities so students who are well prepared with a sense of what they want to do will complete their degree at Oxford, a world-class university, far more quickly.
Q: Could you explain your admissions policy for those who are interested in studying in Oxford? To what do you ascribe more weight among academic performance, student potential and other things?
We really encourage students to think about what truly fascinates them. They’re going to study one subject in great depth, so they have to really love that subject, driven by passion and curiosity.
To apply for Oxford at undergraduate level, prospective Korean students would need to have qualifications that Oxford recognizes, such as British A-levels, the International Baccalaureate, or American SAT or Advanced Placement qualifications.
Students in many subjects will be expected to take an aptitude test either before or at interview, depending on the subject, which they will have to arrange themselves.
Q: How does the school seek a balance between teaching and research? What is the unique style of your teaching method?
The Oxford tutorial system means that Oxford undergraduates have regular one-to-one or one-to-two teaching sessions with their tutor in their subject. No other university in the world, with the possible exception of Cambridge, offers this level of close contact with senior academics.
Although this style of teaching style is very resource-intensive, it forces students to learn to set out their own ideas and to deal with challenges to them. This is central to the Oxford experience.
The University of Oxford has exceptionally high international rankings for the quality of its research across a very wide range of subjects, but we nonetheless place equal emphasis on our teaching. We integrate research and teaching right down to undergraduate level.
All university lecturers and professors are expected to teach and to undertake research so that students are taught by academic leaders in their field who doing current cutting-edge research.
That’s very obviously a huge benefit to the students, but I, like many other professors, find that teaching helps to keep a flow of fresh questions and new thinking into our own research. We can all win. We just have to work hard!
Q: What is the value you emphasize most in your teaching?
For me, what I value most in my students is their capacity to assimilate information and be logical with it and then be responsive, to be flexible. It is clarity of thought, the ability to change what you think because there is new information. I want people to think, be creative and change and develop their own minds. That’s what I care about the most.
Q: What do you think makes a good university?
In the end, great universities are made by great students and great teachers. I think that’s the key. Each year when students come, they renew the university, so it’s people that make a great university.
And the university’s job is to let the people do it well. With my students, I often think that they educate each other. First they are frightened, because they think all of them came here with great potential.
Students’ teach each other, however, and if I don’t mess them up, they do that very well. So I guide, I recommend, sometimes I push, and I motivate them to accomplish the most through helping each other.