British Study Centres Blog » Oxford

My First Week In Oxford Studying The Summer Business Certificate

Duncan — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:37:52 +0000

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Hi all! If any of you thinking about coming here to study, don’t hesitate. Oxford is full of colleges and learning inspirations, where else could be better for study? Even though I came from half way around the world and the whole different culture, I can still say that I’ve made the right choice.

My first week in Oxford was great! Oxford is the city that assembles the words; classic, modern, trendy, and tranquil. Plus, you can just hop on the coach to go to London, in 1.45 hr. High-street shops and pretty little cafes reside in Oxford’s classic architectures. Museums, colleges, and parks can be seen at every corner of every street.

My first lazy Sunday afternoon in Oxford, I decided to go for a walk through the little shortcut from my house which led me to the city centre. As I walked, I noticed that there were a lot of green areas including the parks and the fields. I enjoyed my green views, the bright blue sky, and the summer breeze. Before I knew it, I was at the centre already. I was delighted to see all these beautiful buildings that seemed like what I saw in my text books! It was amazing how these building could survive such a long period of time and there I was, experiencing a part of World history. I spent the rest of my afternoon exploring the city with the feeling of contentment and excitement unknowing what building I would on the next street. Not only the architectures that drew my attention, but also the cafes and shops along the streets. The trendiest clothing stores and other gadget shops were also available in this old Oxford.

My host-family is terrific as well. My host mother is a great cook and companion. Some of you may think this is like living with total strangers, but I am going to adjust this thought of yours. Living with the host-family can give you the sense of belonging, there are people that you can share your ideas and experiences with, and on top of that, you get to eat the home-made food everyday. Better than burgers and fries, I assure.

My choice of study here is the Certificate in Business (Summer Course). There are 15 people in my class with a great nationality-mix. With this diversity, I see my classroom as a good place for idea-exchanging. The lessons given are all in business fields such as PR, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Accounting, and Business Law. I can certainly say that I have learned something new and useful here. There are also special events like an excursion to the BMW-MINI plant and guest speakers. It’s always good to see theories come to life.

Well, at last, I would like to encourage you all to come and get a glimpse of this old town. See Oxford, feel Oxford, and be a part of Oxford, the living History.

- Bo, Thailand

The Top 5 Things To Do In Bournemouth Within 10 Minutes Of The School

Vania — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:30:11 +0000

The Bournemouth school is extremely lucky to benefit from its central location. Overlooking the town’s main square, it is in the heart of the town and all the great attractions of Bournemouth are within easy reach. Here are the top five things to do within 10 minutes of our Bournemouth school!

Relax in the Lower Gardens

Bournemouth is famous for its gardens and we are lucky to have the Grade II listed gardens within 2 minutes of the school. The award winning gardens have colourful flower displays and include a stream, ice-cream kiosks and mini golf. In the summer what better way to relax than to listen to the music from the Pine Walk bandstand or visit the aviary or art exhibition? These gardens are like no other as they have a whole wealth of things to keep its visitors interested. Not to mention being home to number 2 on our list, The Bournemouth Eye!

Take a Trip on the Bournemouth Eye

Located in the Lower Gardens another of Bournemouth’s top attractions is only a 2 minute walk from the school. The Bournemouth eye is the town’s answer to the London Eye. It transports it’s passengers up in a balloon where they can see the whole area from the New Forest to the Isle of Wight. This gentle trip is the premier way to see the stunning scenery of Bournemouth and the surrounding areas.

Visit the Oceanarium

Through the Lower Gardens and next to the pier is the Oceanirum, this attraction has sea life from all over the world from The Amazon to the Florida Keys. You can walk through the shark tunnel and enjoy seeing the sting rays and afterwards enjoy a drink in the café.

Take a Speed Boat Ride

In contrast to any of the other relaxing activities why not indulge in a thrilling speed boat ride along the coast? You will get your adrenalin pumping as you race along the coastline!

Take a Bike Ride Along the Beach Front

Along from the pier you can hire a beach cruiser bike and take a ride along the beach front promenade. This is how the locals enjoy the 11k of award winning sandy beaches. On a clear day you can see the Isle of Wight and the nature reserve of Studland, and it gives you a strong sense of the natural beauty to be found here. What a relaxing way to enjoy a sunny afternoon?

……Of course if none of these excite you, you can always hang out at the beach!

My First Day On The Summer Business Course

Duncan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:52:50 +0000

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Welcome!

I am a student on the Oxford summer business programme.

The first day of a course is an exciting time. So, can you imagine how excited a group of students are to start a course directly related with their career, in a foreign country, with a different language and culture? This was the atmosphere last Monday.

After a induction about the course, we did an ice-breaking activity to get to know each other, because one way that we can learn is by sharing our experiences and getting in touch with our colleagues.

The class is very diversified, with the ideal number of students, large enough for broadening our knowledge about other cultures, and small enough for everyone to know each other deeply. We have classmates from Brazil, France, Guatemala, Italy, Qatar, Russian, Spain and Azerbaijan.

This morning we meet our professors and we were impressed with their experience. They talked about the group assignment that we will do. It is going to be a business plan that we are going to build up class after class.

After the class, we did a short tour of Oxford’s beautiful city centre which was very useful to take advantage of the facilities that this wonderful city has to offer.
In the afternoon, we had an enjoyable experience of British culture: tea time. In a pub next to the school, we relished a cup of time and a piece a cake. It was a great opportunity to talk with our colleagues and teachers.

Everyone came with different backgrounds and expectations and together we hope to reach all our goals. And, of course, enjoy our summer with new friends

- Cristiane, student on the Summer Business Course, and third from the left in the photo.

Previous Student Writes In With More Things To Do In Oxford!

Onat — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:35:22 +0000

Everyone knows Oxford thanks to its famous University, and the town is completely full of students during term time. It has a great atmosphere for studying. I think this is because of the old University buildings and all the students reading their books outside on the greens and in the bars and cafes. I found it really easy to study after class. With all these students, Oxford is a fun place in the evening and on the weekend.

I lived in Oxford for one year while studying at British Study Centres. Trust me, Oxford is a beautiful town and there’s so much to see and do. If you are interested, I wrote before about the top things to do in Oxford. In Oxford there are also many great museums, as you would expect. Here I will give you the top 5!

Ashmolean

I would recommend you to see stunning Ashmolean Museum’s collection. It is just 2 minutes walk from the It includes some fantastic twentieth century art, sculptures, and some paintings loads of Pissaros, a Van Gogh, and huge part of the Renaissance, Some Byzantine Art, back into Ancient Rome, Egypt, and pre historic Greece.

The Ashmolean is owned by the University of Oxford and celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1983. It is undoubtedly one of the finest museums in the country. The nucleus of the original collection (the first of its kind in Britain) was the Cabinet of Rarities of John Tradescant, which was inherited by Elias Ashmole and donated to the University on condition that they provided somewhere suitable to house the exhibits. The University accordingly constructed the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street. This building, sometimes ascribed to Sir Christopher Wren, is now The Museum of the History of Science.

Oxford University Museum of Natural History

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History houses the University’s scientific collections of zoological, entomological and geological specimens. The Museum itself is a Grade 1 listed building, renowned for its spectacular neo-Gothic architecture. Among its most famous features are the Oxfordshire dinosaurs, the dodo, and the swifts in the tower.

You can also visit The Pitt River Museum which is just behind the Oxford university museum. The Museum displays archaeological and ethnographic objects from all parts of the world. The General’s founding gift contained more than 18,000 objects but there are now over half a million. Many were donated by early anthropologists and explorers. The extensive photographic and sound archives contain early records of great importance. Today the Museum is an active teaching department of the University of Oxford. It also continues to collect through donations, bequests, special purchases and through its students, in the course of their fieldwork.

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library. It accommodates a wide range of readers and material, primarily covering humanities disciplines, and is a reference library without borrowing facilities.

Beyond this, famous cyclonical building is worth to see. And it is just 4 min walk from our school.

Museum of Oxford

The Museum of Oxford is an essential starting point to discover the fascinating history of the city and University of Oxford. The story of Oxford is brought to life through original artefacts, college treasures and period room settings from pre-historic times up to the 20th Century.

Museum of the History of Science

The Museum of the History of Science houses an unrivalled collection of historic scientific instruments in the world’s oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean on Broad Street, Oxford. By virtue of the collection and the building, the Museum occupies a special position, both in the study of the history of science and in the development of western culture and collecting.

Exam Success in Oxford!

Dominic Hart - Academic Director in Oxford — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:43:28 +0000

Left to right: Oliver, Saioa, Ivan, Soraya, Kyoko, Libor

Excellent Scores

Students at British Study Centres Oxford received their exam results for the FCE, CAE and IELTS this month, and achieved some excellent scores!

12 students passed their FCE or CAE: Pictured above are Soraya, who received a pass at grade A in CAE, Ivan, Oliver, Saioa and Kyoko (B and C passes in FCE).

Of the IELTS candidates, Libor was among those who scored an outstanding 7.5!

Plans for the future

While Oliver and Ivan continue on a CAE programme at the school, Soraya and Saioa plan to teach: Soraya has already begun a Cambridge CELTA course to become and English teacher herself!

Kyoko and Libor plan to study a Masters at a UK university: Kyoko takes her IELTS exam this month, while Libor has already made his MBA application to the Said Business School at the University of Oxford.

The exam preparation course

“The atmosphere of the class was amazing!” said Kyoko. The others agreed: “My teacher Hester was the best English teacher I’ve ever had,” said Saioa. “It really helped me and prepared me for the exam”, said Soraya, “I had a clear idea of the different tasks”.

Congratulations to all! We wish you the very best for the future and hope you’ll stay in touch!

Useful Tips And Advice Series: Article 3

Onat — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:27:55 +0000

In this article we cover the sights in the great English university town of Oxford, all of which are within 10 minutes’ of the school! This is the first in a series of three articles on Oxford. Next week we will cover Oxford’s many and varied museums, and the final article will profile some of the places you might not know about!

Most of the great sights in Oxford are close together, making it possible to walk between them. You can start visiting from Carfax Tower just for warming up and see Oxford from the highest point.

Then a college or two are worth a look. Like Christ Church College, one of the largest colleges in the University of Oxford and the Cathedral Church where Harry Potter filmed.

You can sit have a rest near by the river Thames and share your snacks with ducks. And then head through the Christ Church Meadow you can have a chance to see a part of Oxford’s famous botanic gardens.

As you go out the Christ church meadow, you will see Magdalene College which is famous by having a deer park. It is possible to view the meadow (and also the deer) from the path. You can spend some time to have a look around beautiful gardens some of the historic buildings.

Then if you want to do punting (boating) on the river Thames it will be good chance to see Oxford from the river the Thames.

Then you might want to see the very famous cylindrical shaped Bodleian Library famous by main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest library in Europe.

You will be tired after a long walk and building up your biceps’s by punting so why not try the very traditional and much hidden away pub in Oxford, Turf Tavern. It worth to spend a little effort to find out.

As you go out the Bodleian library you will see a bridge between two buildings which referred Bridge of Sighs because of its supposed similarity to the famous Bridge sights in Venice.

If you are in for an evening, I can heartily recommend a ghost tour from outside Trinity College in Broad Street. They go in the evening however check the time from tourist information desk.

I hope you will enjoy your day in city of dreaming spires.

Business Certificate Essay Winners And Excursion To Silverstone Race Track

Duncan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:18:25 +0000

Well done to Edouard Gout (France) and Karin Gutmann (Germany) for two fantastic essays on their trip to Silverstone Race Track! They are really descriptive and evoke a strong image of the track, the control centre, the cars.. with some humour as well! As they were studying the business certificate the essays are also about the business, including management, marketing and financial issues to do with the company. The essay competition was just for fun, but is quite similar to the many assessed pieces of work students do on the Business Certificate.

Silverstone is Britain’s most famous racetrack, hosting Formula One Grand Prix. No trip to Silverstone would be complete without photos posing in sports cars, as you can see from the pictures above!

Essay 1: Runner-up

Our Excursion to Silverstone – Karin Gutmann

Yes, it’s Silverstone, not Flintstone. Never having played with toy racing cars and never having watched Formula One I might lack this special motor racing gene. So the prospect of going to Silverstone as part of our Business Studies course did not have an immediate effect on my blood pressure.

When entering the huge 880 square mile area, passing the parking lot with its pretty impressive cars and seeing big boys nearly moved to tears because of the roaring up and down of the engines on the circuit you immediately remember what economics is all about: unlimited wants and limited resources.

Alfi, who started his career as a racing driver in the 60s and now works as an instructor, took us on tour, explaining the conversion of this former World War II airfield into the home of the of the Formula One British Grand Prix. We looked at Silverstone’s ‘heart’, the British Racing Drivers’ Club with its spectacular view over the hairpin curves and its 1,000 racing car models, its high-tech ‘brains’ with 30 monitors, the car mechanics’ golden hands and the medical centre, which hosts all the facilities of a modern hospital.

And of course we all stood on top of the podium, tried to smell the champagne which had been sprayed around and felt a bit like Lewis Hamilton.

Car racing is mainly financed by its sponsors: Arai (helmets), Avon (tyres), Aon (insurance policies), Ford (guess what) and the Royal Air Force (which gave me some food for thought), just to mention a few of them.

Talking about money: if you want to see this unique shine in the eyes of your (male?) beloved ones, why don’t you treat them to a Ferrari or Aston Martin driving experience: three laps including a briefing for £99.

At the end of the tour I found myself sitting in a Ferrari, with a big smile on and elbow out, and had pictures taken. Some genes take a long time before they come into effect I suppose.

Essay 2: Winner

SILVERSTONE EXPERIENCE, I WILL NEVER FORGET – Edouard Gout

Have you ever been in a Ferrari? I have been! Let me explain the context. Going to Silverstone is one of the trips organized by the British Studies Centres for its business students and let me tell you something: it is an amazing experience.

At 9:30, a minibus provided by the school was waiting for us… Of course, nobody was missing and it takes around thirty minutes to have one foot in Northamptonshire and the other one in Buckinghamshire! Indeed, Silverstone is so big that it is located in both shires! Now, this is not surprising when you know that Silverstone was a World War Two airfield. Fortunately, runways have not been destroyed and are operational for… air shows.

But back to racing cars. As we expected, when we entered the Silverstone’s circuit, racing cars were everywhere… in car parks, in garages, in showrooms and of course in the main circuit speeding by experienced and crazy drivers. Imagine how exciting it was to see and especially to sit in a Ferrari 360 F1^TMModena, an Aston Martin V8 Vantage or a Lotus Exige S. Most of the drivers were amateurs and brought their own cars: so, it was hard to not be surprised to see a Renault running near these sport cars.

Then, our guide, actually a race instructor, starts to tell us everything we need to know about Silverstone. Indeed, it is important to keep in mind, that each trip is linked with business courses: one of our teachers is in charge to provide some materials and discuss with us about management or marketing issues during the visit.

An interesting point we learn is that the beleaguered home of the Formula One British Grand Prix (since 1948) is owned by the British Racing Drivers’ Club (a private limited company), which has around 300 members including former F1 world champion such as Nigel Mansell or Damon Hill and even F1’s newest superstar, Lewis Hamilton. Above all, is not a small business: the circuit has a book value of £61 million and recently it made a £13.6 million in gross profits and earnings after-tax of £1.3 million (up from a 2.6 million loss the previous year). UK government and local authority are continuing to support racing activity, so Silverstone will be able to add a new test centre as well as two hotels. Investments in Silverstone are not stopping and the management is now trying to make changes to the circuit for the Moto GP. Silverstone is moving forward… Be ready to see it!

The trip includes a drive workshop tour, a race control visit and an unforgettable F1 Winners’ podium photo opportunity. See you on a Lamborghini, a Porsche or any sport car you desire!

NB: racing experiences are offered at affordable prices!