Two colleges, a ten minute walk from the Union and the Bodleian. Students live in college, on a staircase, with a hall to eat in and a library to work in. Mornings and afternoons belong to the academic programme. What is left belongs to the city, and students are expected to make use of it.
Single study bedrooms and meals in hall, living as Oxford undergraduates live.
Tutorials, debates and lectures in working Oxford rooms, with common rooms, libraries, studies, and cloisters open between them.
Punting on the Cherwell, the Ashmolean and college tours, and a day in London.
Formal hall · 2026
Admission is selective and the cohort is deliberately small and international. Ask them afterwards what stayed with them, and most will talk about who else was in the room before they mention the teaching.
They are placed in tutorials, labs, and teams across those lines rather than within them. A room where everybody has been taught the same way is the one thing the programme tries to avoid.
Countries represented in 2026.
Continents, across the 2026 cohort.
Cohort. Juniors, Middles, and Seniors are taught separately and live separately.
My favourite moment was punting, when we could not get the boat to move. It made me appreciate what it is to be here.
The route runs through the places students have been arguing about for a fortnight, from the chamber where laws are passed to the trading floors that react to them. It is a working day out rather than a sightseeing tour, and it ends with dinner in the city before the coach back to college.
Westminster and Whitehall, where the arguments are made professionally.
The Mall and the palace, and the constitutional monarchy behind it.
The square that has staged British public protest for two centuries.
The National Gallery or the Science Museum, chosen by subject.
The whole city laid out, and a view of how it was built.
The square mile, for the economics, finance and business students.
Dinner and the evening, before the journey back to Oxford.
My favourite part of the Academy has to be the opportunity to discuss with teachers on a more personal level, individual to each student. They have truly been more like mentors than anything.
