Student Experience: An Oxford Summer

Student, Holly Higgin's tells us all about her experience at an Oxford summer school:

This summer, I had the opportunity to study at an Oxford summer school for two weeks, taking classes in International Relations, Economics and Debate. The experience was invaluable, I learnt a lot and enjoyed getting to know the other students and teachers.

The other students on the course were from all over the world. In my international relations class there was a girl from Taiwan, a boy from Texas of Pakistani origin, a boy from Portugal and a girl from Nigeria and me. Having the opportunity to get to know these people was amazing and comparing our cultural differences was extremely interesting.

The classes were so engaging and the teachers were great. I particularly enjoyed International relations, my teacher for which was a specialist in food politics. We studied the way in which food and globalisation is affecting our world and global politics. After being inspired by these topics, I have begun to read Joseph Stiglitz’s Globalisation and its Discontents. After having read some of his book, I feel compelled to buy from local businesses and to use less in order to protect our environment. In our society, the environment is often a side-line political issue, after seemingly bigger issues, such as the economy and immigration. I have realised that in fact, environmental issues are some of the biggest challenges we face. Given the fact that the environment knows no borders, it necessitates inter-state cooperation in order to make progress. We all love our blackberries, IPhones, McDonalds, Starbucks and thus, are all consumers and must be aware of the issues that surround us so we can make informed decisions, so I would really recommend this book to all students here at BSFC!

The course really gave me chance to stretch myself to new areas of study I have not explored before and to meet people from all over the globe, making me want to travel to experience different cultures first-hand. I was able to get a taste for what it would be like to study at University and to enjoy being completely independent in my learning as well as having a lot of fun in a new city.

Thank you to all the teachers at Birkenhead Sixth Form College who supported me going!