Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford

Founded in 1878, LMH is a friendly, open and dynamic college in the University of Oxford.  We are an academic community, utterly committed to research and scholarship and to effective, highly personalised teaching and learning for students from all backgrounds.  The College prepares its students to live and work in a fast-moving, complex, and global society that is hungry for knowledge, communication, and integrity.

Visiting Students live in College with other undergraduates and have the opportunity to take advantage of all College and University resources. Each Visiting Student is assigned a Personal Tutor in his or her subject area, who is located at LMH and helps the student to organise a programme of study. Like other Oxford undergraduates, Visiting Students are taught in tutorials or small groups by Oxford Tutors.

Location

Oxford is approximately 60 miles (90 kms) northwest of London with excellent road and national rail links. Regular coach services connect Oxford with the capital and also with Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports. Oxford is fairly compact and the city centre can easily be covered on foot or by bicycle, with local bus services available to reach the more outlying areas.

Academics

Visiting Students can study most of the subjects available to regular LMH undergraduates, with the exception of natural sciences and law. (We do, however, offer Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science and Biological Sciences.)

In those areas where the college does not regularly admit undergraduates e.g. Human Sciences, it may be possible to arrange courses in some of the component parts of the degree, e.g. Sociology, Demography, Anthropology. Similarly, in some areas where the college does not normally admit visiting students, e.g. Law, it may be possible to arrange one or more courses in a related subject for those interested.

We can also provide some special subjects tailored to the visiting student’s interest, for example courses have been offered recently on the role of the American Supreme Court, and on Britain’s relationship with Ireland in the 20th Century. However, special subjects are usually decided on an individual basis as they will depend on our ability to match a student’s particular interests to the available teaching resources.

Your term will be structured around taking a major course, which usually requires 8 tutorials per term (one per week) and a minor course will usually involve 4 tutorials per term (one on alternative weeks). Therefore an average 8-week term for a Visiting Student will involve 12 one-hour tutorials. You will usually be asked to write a short essay for each of these tutorials. There are usually no ‘term-papers’ which you have to write at the end. Your work will be individually assessed and marked and feedback will be given on a week-by-week basis. Your final term grade will be awarded on the basis of both the quality of your written work and how well you have engaged in tutorial discussions with your tutor. Hence both written and verbal skills are developed and evaluated during the course. Students are also advised to attend lectures to supplement materials covered in the tutorial sessions.

You can select tutorials from a maximum of 3 subject areas, however, in order to achieve the greatest benefit from the Oxford tutorial system, we recommend that you select tutorials from only one or two subject areas.

Academic Calendar

Autumn: October - December

Spring: January - June

Living Arrangements

All rooms are single study bedrooms with central heating, and many have en-suite facilities. All rooms have broadband internet connection, via the College's ethernet.  You are required to leave your room during all vacation periods.  It is possible to request to remain in College for some of the vacation periods (subject to agreement with the Director of Visiting Students.

There are many kitchens in College for students' use.