In October, 2011, when I was over in the UK, I had the opportunity of visiting with a friend and her daughter who is a student at Oxford and who gave me a grand tour of the colleges.   Oxford is a university but made up of thirty-eght colleges and six permanent private halls.

The collegiate system provides students and faculty the sense of belonging to a large internationally renowned university and also to a small, interdisciplinary academic community.

Oxford is known as a world-class university of academic excellence.  Through a tutorial method of teaching, there is great personal attention and in-depth discussions by a faculty member with a small group of students over the particular topics of their course of study.  Students usually have one or two tutorials a week, complemented by lectures, classes and seminars.

And what a place to study.  Oxford is a relatively short train trip to London but coming to Oxford and stepping onto the grounds of the University, one gets the sense of time-honored traditions and timeless academic studies that makes Oxford one the premier universities in the world.