Here at the Oxford & Cambridge Summer School, our academic programme is based around the world-famous Oxbridge tutorial system. Students are able to expand their personal horizons with the help of our subject specialist Oxford and Cambridge educated tutors.

Our tutorial groups contain a maximum of 4-6 students per group, and all our students experience a one-to-one tutorial each week with their tutor. In addition to the 20+ hours of seminars and workshops, students also receive 12 hours of tutorials. The one-to-one and small group nature of our tutorial system allows focus on the individual student and their opportunities for improvement. Such concentrated study improves the analytical and reasoning skills of the students, which will be vital at university.

Our tutors will set preliminary reading for students to undertake before arriving at the Summer School. This enables them to gain the maximum benefit from their tutorials. We also ask our students to send in some example work, so their tutors can understand the academic level of each student, and tailor their course accordingly.

At the heart of the Oxford & Cambridge Summer School is a desire to encourage young people to become independent learners, and to experience the university style of learning.

Our summer school programme includes time set aside for personal study, which is an important part of the university experience. Our tutors set assignments and students are expected to read academic texts and do their own research. For example, a student might be asked to analyse a source chosen by our History tutor, or a mathematical problem set by our Engineering tutor.

Our tutors will provide the students with the materials and reading, and our tutors and pastoral staff will provide any necessary guidance and support. Independent work allows students to flourish on their own. Work is set in reasonable amounts and help is always on hand for those with any questions.

The tutorials and independent research will culminate in an essay (or, in certain sciences, a solution to a set of problems) submitted and discussed at the end of one week. Students will be asked to research and give a presentation to their tutors in another week. This allows the students to experience two prevalent ways of submitting work at university.

On our final evening, we’ll be holding our Graduation Ceremony, where students are awarded prizes and certificates to accredit the work they have done on the Summer School. This will be followed by a celebratory dinner.

For more information on the how the course is structured please view our timetable.