Course content

The conventional way of looking at Medicine is through the diagnosis of illness and the prescription of drugs. This course approaches medical biology through one of its major fields, toxicology, taking drugs as the starting point rather than the 'cure'.

Toxicology is the scientific study of adverse effects in living organisms due to environmental agents and chemical compounds found in nature, as well as pharmaceutical compounds synthesized for medical use by humans. It involves observing and reporting on the symptoms, mechanisms, detection and treatment of toxic substances in relation to the poisoning of humans; producing toxic effects such as disturbance in growth patterns, discomfort, disease and death. It focuses on the adverse effects that can occur in living organisms that come into contact with chemicals.

Course outcomes

By the end of you will become aware of the pathologies associated with toxicology and the risk assessment work of toxicologists. You will learn about current debates centered on drug abuse and will discuss recent high-profile cases.

Course content

This course explores key concepts in Business, including management, marketing, communication, negotiating and presentations. In today’s global economy and increasingly competitive world, good communication is vital and this involves language skills as well as personal resilience. Students on this course have the opportunity to fine-tune their negotiation and public speaking skills through group project work and presentations.

Students explore the world of business in some detail, examining a range of concepts, from the importance of mission statements to managing finances, and discuss how recent local and world events have shaped today’s ever-changing business world.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students will be able to plan and present an effective presentation in small groups, have learned how to work effectively in a group, practiced and fine-tuned their negotiating skills and have discussed a variety of business-related topics.

Course content

What is style? Why do we like some pieces of writing but find others dull? Are there any objective techniques for evaluating written texts? This course is built around a selection of classic and modern texts, representing a range of genres within the broad categories of prose, poetry and plays. Students will be taught how to analyse and comment on texts, developing their critical skills and knowledge of literary devices and terminology.

Students will also have the opportunity to engage in class discussions and debates.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course, students will have gained confidence in their skills for literary analysis and in their own judgements and their ability to defend them.

Course content

Focusing on criminal law, this course will provide a grounding in the idiosyncrasies of the UK common law system, which can be unpredictable and inconsistent in its application; the criminal court system (magistrates’ courts, crown courts and the supreme court, formerly the House of Lords) and the key concepts underpinning criminal law (actus reus and mens rea). Students will learn about, discuss and come up with defences for a series of fascinating real life cases, each of which illustrates a different aspect of UK law in action.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students will have gained an overview of the criminal justice system, and an understanding of its key legal concepts and an ability to debate and comment on real life cases and their outcomes.

Course content

Students following this course are instantly plunged into the world of politics, exploring deep below the surface to discover exactly what it is, examining the figures who populate it, and exploring the political systems of different countries. Ultimately, the course defines the importance of politics globally, and also in our own personal lives.

The course will look at political events on a global scale and how they permeate our day-to-day lives. The course will also demonstrate how different definitions of politics are formed, with students analysing concepts in the social sciences and how they are contested. Students will have the opportunity to evaluate different political perspectives and allow their own views to flourish, and be challenged by discussing significant political events of the twenty-first century.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students will be able to interpret different definitions of politics, and to understand both the people who are involved and how different countries use it. Students will evaluate the importance of politics and how it affects everyday life.

Course content

Essay writing skills are a major part of a university education. Expressing your ideas, formulating a structured argument or even thinking of ideas to include can be very challenging. In this course you will learn how develop critical and creative thinking skills and to plan, organise and write first-class essays for study purposes. Being able to write well improves all areas of study skills, including effective reading, following lectures and note-taking.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students will be able to plan and write a structured essay, have had extensive practice in persuasive writing and have acquired practical knowledge of how to make their essays stand out from the crowd.

Course content

In this course, students will be introduced to philosophical stuctures through classic texts, contemporary thought and popular culture. Lessons will focus on the nature of reality, not just through the eyes of Descartes and Hume, but as depicted in films like The Matrix and Blade Runner. Students will learn about and discuss ethics, though they will not be confined to the ideas of Plato and Aristotle. They will also engage with the contemporary bioethics of Peter Singer and examine the crucial role of ethics today in business and politics. The aim of the course is not simply to familiarise students with the history of philosophy, but to encourage them to engage with ideas and see that philosophy is all around and more than a worthwhile endeavour.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students will have acquired valuable transferable skills including the recognition of fallacies in argument, debating and discussion skills and increased their confidence in expressing their opinions cogently and respectfully in front of a group with divergent views.

This course helps students develop their expressive skills by looking at the techniques used in a wide variety of texts whilst also developing their critical reading skills. It gives students a taste of some of the processes involved in becoming a writer, from reading more insightfully to recording their own ideas and experiences in more interesting and original ways. It also helps them to access reference materials, so that they can find out more about writers and language for themselves.

During the course students are given a wide range of long and shorter writing exercises and are encouraged to experiment with many different forms and styles, in order to identify and develop their own writing strengths and preferences.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students have learned how to observe and comment on points of style, and to identify confidently what makes a piece of writing original. They will have engaged in critical thinking, which involves noticing things about written texts and pinpointing how effects are produced; a key skill for any serious writer.

Course content

Any non-native speaker of English planning to study at an English-speaking university will need to take an IELTS exam, which assesses whether you are ready to study on a programme taught in English. Our Introduction to IELTS course introduces students to all four parts of the IELTS exam, teaching them how to approach each part most effectively, to give them the best possible chance of getting into the university of their choice. This course has been developed in collaboration with IELTS examiners and includes detailed instruction in the very best exam techniques and model answers for writing tasks prepared by examiners.

Course objectives

By the end of the course students will have acquired the exam techniques to confidently sit for the exam and have had extensive practice in all four parts of the IELTS exam.

The Acting & Performance Skills workshop introduces students to a range of performance methods and techniques which are challenging and fun at the same time. Students will explore movement, voice control and acting skills through a variety of drama techniques including improvisation, building confidence and creativity and developing a practical working knowledge of performance methodology indispensable to any future career. The afternoon workshop will follow on to scenes or monologues chosen from classical or modern theatre.

This afternoon workshop will provide an introduction to the basic skills and knowledge you need to become an effective manager and leader. Key concepts of management and leadership will be defined and discussed and different management and learning styles will be evaluated. Students will be given the opportunity to consider what it means to work in a team, and to be in a position of leadership.

Brasenose College is one of the constituent colleges in the University of Oxford and is located in the very heart of the city, adjacent to the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford’s most iconic landmark. Although the college is generally regarded as having been founded in 1509, its history stretches back much further, as the site was occupied by Brasenose Hall, one of the mediaeval Oxford institutions which began as lodging houses and gradually became more formal places of learning.

Brasenose alumni include UK Prime Ministers David Cameron and Henry Addington, Australian Prime Ministers Malcom Turnbull and John Gorton, the comedian Michael Palin, the authors John Buchan and William Golding, England cricketer Colin Cowdrey, William Webb Ellis (credited with the invention of rugby football), Douglas Haig and Robert Runcie.

We are both fortunate and delighted to be able to use the facilities of Brasenose College for our courses and students during the summer.

Course Content

The ancient world is the source of many aspects of present-day culture and politics. Greek and Roman art, architecture, myths, philosophy and literature have profoundly influenced our world view. Through an exploration of topics ranging from the honour codes of Ancient Greek and Roman heroes and the representation of women in Ancient Greek drama to the philosophy of Plato and the best-known myths, this course highlights the impact of classical civilization on modern thought systems, culture, politics, gender roles, architecture and art.

Course Outcomes

This course will help students to develop their critical and analytical skills. Close readings of selected texts will also expand their understanding of different thought systems and moral codes. Students will learn about the influence of classical art on later art, architecture and even dance and gain an understanding of how classical stories have been used in painting, sculpture and even dance to challenge the social ideas of different historical periods, such as the Victorian Age.

Course content

Students following this course will have the opportunity to study international relations and combine this with the study of political theory and the national politics of a variety of countries. This course will look at the origin of politics, forms of government in various countries, the various rights of people in a country, and the role of the ruling party and the opposition party in different countries. It will also allow students to examine major problems being faced by the international community today focussing on the political, military, economic, and cultural interaction at a global level.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students will have the knowledge and the analytical tools required to evaluate problems in the world today.

Course content

Students following this course will be focussing on contemporary psychological research rather than focusing on the history of psychology. This course will look at, inter alia, the importance of ideas that are testable and driven by hypothesis in order to reach an understanding of the mind and human behaviour.

This course will look at the experiments behind the research studies that influence change in the social sciences. It will also look at the importance of following the ethical guidelines of human experimentation, avoiding biases, and collaborating as part of a team and how such research can be quantitatively studied.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students will have an understanding of how crucial the impact of a psychological experiment is in the social sciences and of the varied experimental processes used in conducting introspective research.

Course content

Students following this course will look at the operation of markets and market failure with particular attention given to economic methodology, competitive and concentrated markets, and market behaviour. Students will look at how national economies perform in a global world. This will include the study of how the macro economy functions and how its performance is measured.

Course outcomes

By the end of this course students will gain an overview of the interrelationship between microeconomics and macroeconomics and will have an insight into economic theory and how to analyse current economic issues.

Course Content

Academic writing and critical thinking skills are a major part of university education. Students following this course will refine and improve their academic writing by covering a broad range of key functional and textual areas. In this course students will learn how to plan, organise and write excellent essays for academic purposes and develop critical and creative thinking skills. Students' critical thinking skills will be developed by exploring current controversial issues with international appeal.

Course Outcomes

By the end of the course students will be able to plan and write a structured academic essay. Furthermore, students will start to re-evaluate their assumptions and form their own points of view as they develop their critical thinking skills.