Study in Oxford - UChicago | Graham School

Study in Oxford - UChicago | Graham School
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Study in Oxford
A Historical Adventure at the University of Oxford
Travel with members of the UChicago Graham School community to study and explore at the world’s oldest English-speaking university.
Type
Travel
Fortnight Duration
Two weeks full time
Fortnight Cost
$9,395-$10,195
Sennight Duration
One week full time
Sennight Cost
$5,495-$5,895
Next Trip
June 2026
Apply Now
Request Info
ABOUT TRAVEL STUDY AT OXFORD
Travel to England to study in the “city of dreaming spires” during one of our annual programs.
Join us for intellectual adventure as you study at the oldest English-speaking university in the world. A decades-long partnership between the University of Chicago Graham School and Oxford University allows learners to be part of one of the world’s most celebrated centers of scholarship.
Benefits of Travel Study at Oxford
Gain insights into history, culture, and literature in rigorous seminars led by Oxford faculty and experts.
Participate in a daily seminar with topics ranging from History and Politics to Literature and Culture. Topics vary each year.
Participate in enriching visits to historical sites and museums.
Get to know the members of your cohort as you share unforgettable experiences.
Take advantage of daily free time to explore all Oxford has to offer: Visit the colleges, go punting on the Thames, and wander through idyllic English gardens.
Receive a certificate of seminar completion from the Oxford Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford.
Price includes accommodations and most meals.
You’re in an environment charged with intellectual energy and that has a positive effect on everybody. You’re engaging in rich discussions with classmates interested in learning and that makes for such a dynamic experience and fast friendships.
Al Wayne
Three-time travel study participant
I’m not sure I could have had this tremendous experience any other way but through the University of Chicago Graham School and Oxford. It exceeded every expectation I had.
Linda Cassil
Travel study participant
Upcoming Oxford Programs
Fortnight in Oxford
May 31-June 13, 2026
Our traditional two-week program held at the end of Trinity Term offers two seminar options:
Roman Britain: History and Archaeology
Dr. Steve Kershaw
Explore the profound influence of Roman culture on Britain through history, archaeology, and material culture.
The Political Shakespeare
Dr. Angus McFadzean
Examine how Shakespeare’s plays engaged with the political upheavals of Elizabethan and Jacobean England.
Sennight in Oxford
June 14-20, 2026
A one-week intensive program featuring:
Murder Most British: Crime and Detection in Victorian Fiction
Dr. Emma Plaskitt
Trace the origins of detective fiction, from the penny dreadful to Sherlock Holmes, and explore why Victorian readers were captivated by crime and mystery.
See complete 2026 programming details
Online Information Session
Learn more about this unique travel opportunity by watching a recording of an information session.
Watch info session
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about travel study experiences at Oxford from the Graham School.
How much does A Sennight in Oxford cost?
Single traveler price: $5,895
Double room per person price: $5,495
A $1,200 per person deposit is required upon acceptance to the program. The balance of the fee is due no later than March 18, 2026.
How much does A Fortnight in Oxford cost?
Single traveler price: $10,195
Double room per person price: $9,395
A $1,200 per person deposit is required upon acceptance to the program. The balance of the fee is due no later than March 18, 2026.
What are the accommodations?
Participants will stay in the Rewley House Residential Centre in Oxford. Accommodations are similar to those of a conference center. All rooms are en suite. Buildings are historic with limited elevator access and are not air-conditioned.
Participants should be aware that the trip requires the ability to climb one to two flights of stairs to bedrooms and classrooms. There are no bedrooms on the ground floor.
What are the prerequisites to participate in Study in Oxford?
Study in Oxford is open to Graham students, UChicago alumni, friends of the University, and other lifelong learners.
Will I be able to participate meaningfully in my seminar?
All participants are strongly encouraged to complete the advance reading assigned before their trip and to participate vigorously in their seminar. The Study in Oxford program is designed to foster deep engagement with historical or literary topics and complex issues.
Is travel insurance required?
We strongly suggest that participants purchase travel insurance to protect against nonrefundable costs incurred when travel must be postponed on short notice. We are unable to make exceptions to our refund policies.
Participants may elect instead to waive this requirement understanding fully that the University of Chicago Alumni Association and Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies are under no obligation to provide a refund after cancellation dates have passed.
Are there any special considerations for medical insurance?
Medical insurance plans vary. Participants should confirm that their medical insurance covers expenses while in the U.K. or arrange for alternative medical insurance.
What responsibilities should I be aware of?
The University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies have no responsibility in whole or in part for any loss, death, damage, or injury to person or property or accident, mechanical defect, failure or negligence of any nature howsoever caused in connection with any accommodation, transportation, or other services. Baggage is at the owner’s risk entirely. The right is retained to decline to accept or retain any person as a trip member should such person’s health, mental condition, physical infirmity, or attitude jeopardize the operation of the trip or the rights, welfare, or enjoyment of other participants.
What is the cancellation policy if my availability to attend the trip changes?
All cancellations and requests for refunds must be submitted in writing. All cancellations will be subject to a $600 per person fee. Cancellations received between April 30 and May 31, 2026, will result in a forfeiture of 60% of the total program cost per person. No refunds will be given for cancellations received after June 1, 2026.
In the unlikely event of the cancellation of the program by the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies or by Oxford University, a full refund will be given.
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Fortnight in Oxford
May 31 – June 13, 202
Our traditional two-week program in Oxford allows you to experience the University at the end of Trinity Term. Applicants can select from two seminars:
History/Politics Seminar:
Roman Britain: History and Archaeology
, Dr. Steve Kershaw
The influence of the ancient Romans on modern British society is enormous and unique. This course will explore the fascinating events and the extraordinary cultural and artistic achievements of the Romans in Britain, and the Britons under Roman control via a range of topics pertinent to history, archaeology, and material culture.
The fascinating events and the extraordinary cultural and artistic achievements under scrutiny will include: the nature of our archaeological evidence; Roman knowledge of Britain; Julius Caesar’s expeditions; the ‘between the wars’ period; the Claudian invasion; Boudicca’s revolt; Vvillas; slaves; issues of identity and ethnicity; Tacitus’
Agricola
; Hadrian’s Wall; and the end of Roman involvement in Britannia. Numerous intriguing human issues will be confronted as we follow the process of the creation of a Roman province, explore the challenges faced by both the Romans and the natives, examine the physical and mental environment in which they spent their lives, assess their triumphs and mistakes, and evaluate the solutions they attempted.
Students will be invited to analyze and reflect on the controversies and dilemmas posed by the written and material evidence: who were these people? Why (or) did they succeed? And why (or) did they fail?
Literature/Culture Seminar:
The Political Shakespeare,
Dr. Angus McFadzean
Shakespeare wasn’t just an entertainer, writing romantic comedies and epic tragedies. His plays reflect the turbulent changes of the Elizabethan and Jacobean courts, both of which he was close to and knew through nobles and patrons. The 1570s and 80s saw the development of the new genre of ‘history play’, patriotic theatre that propagandized for the Elizabethan state. Shakespeare took this genre and developed it into a major artistic achievement: his line of history plays from Richard II to Henry VI, covering the War of the Roses and other key moments in English history. At the same time, educated courtiers in the Elizabethan court looked back to the stories of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire to understand England’s prominence in the world. In response, Shakespeare developed his own line of Roman stories: from his poem The Rape of Lucrece about the founding of the Republic, to his late theatrical masterpiece Coriolanus about a Rome in turmoil from the mob.
The first week will focus on Elizabeth’s court. The 1590s and 1600s, the time of Shakespeare’s greatest prominence, were challenging for the monarchy. The second week will focus on James’s court. With his ascent to the throne in 1603, the question of succession was settled and James proved to be a good king. However, his court was quite different to Elizabeth’s and Shakespeare adapted his drama to please a monarch with different tastes. Through texts by Shakespeare, we will develop a rounded sense of Shakespeare’s political plays and assess how they reflect contemporary politics today.
Sennight in Oxford
June 14-20, 2026
Our one-week program in Oxford offers you a concentrated experience in Oxford that features all the highlights. One seminar will be offered:
Murder Most British: Crime and Detection in Victorian Fiction
, Dr. Emma Plaskitt
Though the mention of Victorian detective fiction instantly brings to mind an image of Arthur Conan Doyle’s deerstalker clad detective, in fact, Sherlock Holmes followed in the investigative footsteps of many earlier sleuths, both male and female, serious and humorous, amateur and professional. Between 1800 and 1900, roughly 6,000 pieces of crime fiction were published in English and were devoured by an enthralled audience of what Thomas de Quincey satirically called “Murder-Fanciers”.
Today, crime and detective fiction remains a popular staple in literature, film, and television. In this course we trace the development of the genre to discover why it was and remains so fascinating, especially when connected with that most heinous of crimes —murder. We will look at its connection to the most infamous crimes of the nineteenth century, including the1860 Constance Kent case, and the 1888 Jack the Ripper killings that caused panic and terror in London’s Whitechapel district and beyond.
As part of our investigation, we will study the origins of crime and detective literature and its relation to other transgressive subgenres of fiction: the penny dreadful, the gothic novel, and the novel of sensation.  How did the Victorian middle classes view the police and what was their response to crime and criminality? Above all, why were they so fascinated by crime and detective fiction, particularly those stories dealing with murder, and why do we continue to be so?
Sceptr’d Isle: England 1550 – 1650
Tutor: Dr Alan Crosby
Dr Alan Crosby is one of Britain’s best-known local and regional historians. He has taught highly-successful courses for the Oxford University Summer School for Adults (OUSSA) in most years since 2000, and for 25 years has been the editor of
The Local Historian
, the national journal devoted to the subject. Since the early 1990s Alan has led many historical study tours in Britain and Ireland and also to France, Italy, Hungary and Poland. He has published over 40 books and numerous papers, has a doctorate from the University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Course Outline
Week 1: The English nation 1550-1650
Queens, kings and dynasties: royal government and its problems
The voice of the people? Parliament and its growing power
The Church of England, its constitutional place and its growing divisions
The old faith: Catholicism, the fight to survive and the Armada crisis
The build-up to civil war and the course of the war itself
Foreshadowing the empire: overseas trade and colonisation
Generating wealth: the English economy and its expansion
The Old Poor Law: helping the underclass and stabilising society
Shrinking the world: travelling in Tudor and Stuart England
Mapping the nation and discovering their world
Week 2: The people and their achievement 1550-1650
Counting heads: the people of England 1550-1650
Health and well-being: plague, epidemic and famine
Town and country 1550-1650
The London phenomenon: a world city in the making
Architecture and style under Queen Elizabeth I and King James I
Domesticity and lifestyles: houses and their contents
Food, drink, and cooking
The flowering of English music
Art and design in Tudor and Stuart England
Shakespeare’s world: summing up and overview
During the program, we expect to visit Stratford-upon-Avon and to take a field to trip to explore examples of Elizabethan/Jacobean houses.
Background Reading
Jeffrey L. Forgeng,
Daily Life in Stuart England
(Greenwood, 2007)
Ian Mortimer,
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England
(Penguin, 2021)
Roy Strong,
The Elizabethan Image An Introduction to English Portraiture, 1558-1603
(Yale UP, 2019)
Derek Wilson,
Elizabethan Society: High and Low Life, 1558-1603
(Robinson, 2014)
Blair Worden,
Stuart England
(Phaidon, 1986)
Blair Worden,
The English Civil Wars
(Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2010)
Shakespeare in Love: Discovering the Romantic Bard
Everyone thinks they know Shakespeare, the most famous writer in the world. But who was he really? What energised him? What was he passionate about? This course promises to reveal a new side to the famous poet by looking at his work through the theme of love.
In the first week, we will address the theme of comic love. We will trace the historical origins of love and how it became a dominant theme in Shakespeare’s time. Following the style of Plautus and Terence, Shakespeare’s ‘romantic comedies’ delight in depicting lovers in curious entanglements.
As You Like It
follows Rosalind and Orlando’s struggles to woo each other while she is disguised as a boy Ganymede. Meanwhile in
Twelfth Night
, Viola woos the Duke in the guise of a pageboy, while her twin brother Sebastian is wooed by Olivia. For comic Shakespeare, love is mercurial and metamorphic and absurdly complex. Jealous rivals, parental obstacles, changed identities, overhearing scenes, and deceptive letters, all lead to a happy ending in marriage (sort of).
In the second week, we will address tragic passion. Love moves people to violence and dying for love is often offered as the most complete expression of love. The sonnets offer a tragic love triangle of hopeless despair that reveals Shakespeare at his most raw and vulnerable.
Romeo and Juliet
offer the quintessential story of doomed youthful love, against the background of feuding families and social conflict.
Othello
meanwhile reveals male fears of cuckoldry, the consequences of jealousy and humiliation, and the assumed right of bloody revenge.
We may not know much about Shakespeare the man, but by following his passions through the plays, we can obtain a clearer vision of what moved and obsessed Shakespeare the writer.
Tutor: Dr Angus McFadzean
Dr Angus McFadzean is a lecturer specialising in British and American Literature and Film. He is the Program Director of the Oxford University Summer School for Adults and teaches on international programmes for the Continuing Education Department. He is the editor of
Collected Epiphanies of James Joyce: A Critical Edition
(University of Florida Press, 2024) and the author of
Suburban Fantastic Cinema: Growing Up in the Late Twentieth Century
(Columbia University Press, 2019). He holds a doctorate from Wadham College, Oxford on
James Joyce and the Aesthetics of Transgression
. He has published on James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon and Hollywood cinema and has taught widely on literature of the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century, specifically modernism and the works of Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and WB Yeats.    Dr McFadzean is a favourite of UChicago students having taught seminars on Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Conrad, Charles Dickens, , Fitzgerald and Hemmingway, Proust and Joyce, and Irish and Scottish literature over the past decade.
Course Outline
Monday – Shakespeare and Love: An Introduction
Tuesday – As You Like It
Wednesday – As You Like It
Thursday – Twelfth Night
Friday – Twelfth Night
Monday – The Sonnets
Tuesday – Romeo and Juliet
Wednesday – Romeo and Juliet
Thursday – Othello
Friday – Othello
Set Texts
Reading widely in Shakespeare is encouraged and we may touch on other plays such as
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, All’s Well that End’s Well,
and others.
Romeo and Juliet
(Oxford World Classics)
Othello
(Oxford World Classics)
As You Like It
(Oxford World Classics)
Twelfth Night
(Oxford World Classics)
The Sonnets
(Oxford University Classics)
Teaching Methods
Short lectures/Presentations
Physical handouts
Seminars/group discussions
Video recordings
Audio recordings
apply now
The Brontë Sisters: Lives, Literature, Legend
This course examines the short lives, acclaimed novels, and enduring legend of three Victorian sisters: Charlotte (1816–56), Emily (1818–48), and Anne Brontë (1820–49). Before we focus on
Jane Eyre
(1847),
Wuthering Heights
(1837), and
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
(1848), participants will be introduced to the Victorian period with its notions of “separate spheres” for men and women and the “Angel in the House” ideal of femininity. In their re-invention of the Gothic romance, the Brontës produce pioneering, radical novels that challenged conventional ideas on gender and religion as well as featuring other Victorian female archetypes: the fallen woman, the governess, and the madwoman. We will examine the novels in detail, placing them in biographical and historical context, while assessing just what makes them so enduring. Is it down to the literary merit of the novels themselves? Or endless fascination with so-called Brontë myth, which begins with anonymous publication and is firmly established with the controversial biography of Charlotte written by friend and fellow novelist, Elizabeth Gaskell? Charlotte’s own attempts to safeguard and control the posthumous reputations of her sisters and a wealth of television and cinematic adaptations of the novels have only added to their mystique, while hundreds of admirers continuing to make pilgrimages to Haworth village and the Brontë parsonage to this day. What does our ongoing fascination with these sisters and their writing tell us about them, and about ourselves?
Tutor: Dr Emma Plaskitt
Emma Plaskitt is a graduate of Merton College, Oxford, where she wrote her doctoral thesis on gender and reputation in fiction by eighteenth-century novelists Eliza Haywood, Samuel Richardson, and Frances Burney. Since 1994 she has taught English literature 1640–1901 for various Oxford colleges and OUDCE programmes MSSU, Berkeley, MSU, and Duke/UNC. She has worked for the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
, where she was responsible for writing many articles on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women writers and is a Tutor and Lecturer in English Literature for Study Abroad Programme, SCIO in Oxford and for Stanford University in Oxford.  Dr Plaskitt taught the hugely successful Jane Austen seminar for the 2024 Sennight in Oxford.
Course Outline
Monday
Introduction to the Victorian Era and the social, economic, and political position of women to place the Brontës’ lives and writing in context. Discussion of their father Patrick and ne’er do well brother, Branwell, their at times tragic lives, and how their own experiences translate in their novels. Their determination to publish, doing so under androgynous pseudonyms (Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell) to avoid prejudiced reviews. Critical response to the novels and their revolutionary nature. Examination of the Yorkshire landscape that was so pivotal in their creation of unforgettable plot, scenes, and characterisation.
Tuesday
Jane Eyre
: its pioneering nature, unusual and original heroine, narrative innovation, and treatment of female archetypes; also, its problematic elements, including the autobiographical elements, treatment of race, and what has been termed an “excruciating” conclusion.
Wednesday
Jane Eyre
: continued.
Wuthering Heights
: a novel that baffled and horrified Victorian readers and reviewers, while they noted its power and interest. Emily’s literary influences that lead to the creation of monster-hero Heathcliff. Its influence in shaping the hero-villain for decades to come.
Thursday
Wuthering Heights
: continued.
Friday
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
which shocked Victorian readers and reviewers as it featured a virtuous woman who nonetheless leaves her drunken husband and takes their son with her —what amounted to property theft in the period. Original, bold, and loaded with social commentary, it has been overshadowed by the famous novels of Anne’s sisters and even Charlotte attempted to apologise for its overly radical nature, calling it “a mistake”. We will analyse the novel to assess the validity of these claims. Conclusions and consideration of the so-called Brontë Myth as well as the enduring Brontë legend.
Half-day Field Trip
Destination
To place the novels in the context of gothic fiction, a visit to
Strawberry Hill House and Garden
: eighteenth-century gothic revival villa and home to the writer of the first gothic ‘romance’, Horace Walpole.
Excursion rating
Moderate: standing while viewing art in a stately home, walking through the galleries and rooms, going up stairs, etc.
Required Reading
Any edition is fine to use. These are easily available or free to read online. As this is a literature course, the below readings are required. It is preferred, but not essential, to bring books to class.
Charlotte Brontë,
Jane Eyre
Emily Brontë,
Wuthering Heights
Anne Brontë,
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Recommended Film/Television Adaptions
(Not necessary but interesting to watch available/accessible. We will be watching relevant clips in class.)
To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters
(2016 BBC film starring Finn Atkins et. al.)
Jane Eyre
(2006 BBC series starring Ruth Wilson)
Jane Eyre
(2011 film starring Mia Wasikowska)
Wuthering Heights
(1939 film starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier)
Wuthering Heights
(1998 television series starring Robert Cavanah and Orla Brady
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
(1996 TV Mini Series 1996 starring Tara Fitzgerald)
Teaching Methods
The teaching methods used during this course will include:
Short lectures/Presentations
Physical handouts
Seminars/group discussions
Video recordings
Field Trip
apply now
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