The Director of International Programmes and Partnerships said it is “wonderful for so many students to have chosen Oriel”
At the start of Hilary term, five students from Harvard University enrolled as visiting students at Oriel College. They join three others from the University of Notre Dame and Stiftung Maximilianeum, who began their programmes in Michaelmas term.
George Connolly, Director of International Programmes and Partnerships, said it is “wonderful for so many students to have chosen Oriel for their studies abroad” and added: “Visiting students enrich our community, and they also enable our own students to build global connections. I hope they enjoy their time here.”
Visiting students work towards degrees from their home institutions while studying at the University of Oxford, which has now been ranked the best university in the world for nine consecutive years by Times Higher Education.
Alannah Kelleher, from the University of Notre Dame, is one of the three students who began their year abroad in Michaelmas term.
For Kelleher, studying History as a visiting student means she can experience what it is like to be a student at Oxford.
“Though Oriel College is my home within the city, where I eat meals and live in a room overlooking the beautiful High Street, it is also an entrée into student life across dozens of Oxford colleges,” she says.
“Whether discussing Thomas More’s political preoccupations in tutorials … or showing off my most recent recreation of an 18th century robe à l’anglaise gown at a meeting for the Oxford Historical Fashion Society, I feel I have been embraced as a full member of the Oxford community.”
There are also “smaller moments”, Kelleher goes on, like “waking up to see the roof of the Radcliffe Camera sparkling with frost after a freezing mist” or “walking through the deep hush of one of Oriel’s 17th century quads on the way back from a late night at the library.”
“I know that I will always feel a great sense of attachment to this place for the wonderful memories I have made here.”
A welcome tea was organised by Connolly to introduce all of the new visiting students to Oriel at the start of Hilary term.