SCIO Semester Programme
The SCIO Semester Programme gives advanced, highly qualified students a chance to experience a full semester (as an Associate Member) or a year (as a Registered Visiting Student) in Oxford. Find out what it is like to live in a place where the libraries are excellent and the research culture is vibrant.

Students on the SCIO semester programme spend one or two semesters at Oxford, either one semester as an Associate Member or one or two semesters as a Registered Visiting Student.
SCIO and Wycliffe Hall require students to have a GPA of 3.7 or higher. Tutorials, lectures and seminars are equivalent to upper-division courses, and students are expected to do advanced-level work. If your schedule won’t allow you to consider Oxford in your junior or senior year, you can apply for admission as a sophomore.
The tutorial
The heart of their 15-week programme is the tutorial, a weekly meeting between tutor and student which epitomises Oxford’s teaching method of independent learning and argumentation. All students choose one primary and one secondary tutorial. Students write an essay (paper) for each tutorial in which they are encouraged to formulate their own well-supported views, and develop an argument.
Research
Complementing the tutorials is a Research Project, where students explore the methodology and approaches characteristic of their discipline, and engage in supervised individual research leading to a longer essay in a process which is similar to that of a graduate student.
Selected topics in British culture
Finally, all students come together to explore the country which is their home for a semester (or two) in the Selected topics in British culture course. This course examines aspects of past and present-day Britain. Students attend discussion classes in the discipline of their choice and participate in field trips, but spend most of their time doing independent study to produce detailed, scholarly essays.
Credits
Recommended credits (17)
First Semester Courses | |
---|---|
Primary tutorial | 6 |
Secondary tutorial | 3 |
Research project | 4 |
Selected topics in British culture | 4 |
Second Semester Courses (year-long students) | Credits |
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Primary tutorial | 6 |
Secondary tutorial | 3 |
Thesis | 4 |
Selected topics in British culture II | 4 |