Oxford or Cambridge Distance Learning

Univ. of London has a lot of distance learning stuff but what about Oxford or Cambridge?

 

Oxford has a more-or-less D/L master of legal studies (or something) that is really an LL.M. but Oxford being Oxford they don't call it that.

The LL.M., BTW, is an American invention, apparently createds by Yale in the 19th century.

Keep in mind, too, that Oxford's taught masters degree in law is called a B.C.L., Bachelor of Civil Law.

 

Oxford runs a few online DL programmes through its Department for Continuing Education. http://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/online/ There's also the courses that Oxford provides for the Alliance for Lifelong Learning http://www.alllearn.org/ As far as I'm aware, Cambridge does no DL whatsoever.

At both universities it is now possible to get a DPhil or PhD part-time in selected subjects, but the qualifications are firmly aimed at people resident in the UK and are not DL qualifications at all.
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/admissions/pt/bgs_pt_research_degrees.pdf
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/gsp/courses/conted/

Disclaimer: I did a lot of the original development work on the Computing and Local History courses at Oxford.

I would also be very surprised (and I've said so here before) if either Oxford or Cambridge ever do any serious amount of online learning. The whole ethos of both universities is based upon the college system and the provision of an education designed for a small academic elite. These are not mass-participation institutions.

Angela

 

Here'a the degree to which Nosborne refers:

http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/gsp/courses/conted/hlaw.shtml

A Master of Studies in International Human Rights Law. Like he says, it appears to be just another name for an LL.M., as the standard requirement for admission is a first degree in law (although it can be waived, I suppose if you're Nelson Mandela or Elie Wiesel or someone like that).

It does require 2 short Summer term residencies in addition to the online/DL work the rest of the year. Would be a great program for someone who wanted to teach human rights law at the university level.

 

And man oh man, can you IMAGINE the pure Swank? "I got MY masters from, you know, THE University? Oxford?"

Even the Harvard people would be intimidated!

 

Cambridge University Press is/was affiliated with Columbia University's Fathom: the source for online learning.

www.fathom.com

The for-profit venture was unable to make a profit. It's still a great website.

 

Nah. The President and Fellows of Harvard College require us to take a course in Crimson Attitude as a graduation requirement.

Now that I've told you that I've put you in grave danger!

 

Nah. The President and Fellows of Harvard College require us to take a course in Crimson Attitude as a graduation requirement.

I fear that by telling you that, I've put you in grave danger.

 

Jawell, they're not Stellenbosch but they're pretty impressive anyway.

 

Believe-it-or-not, Cambridge is considering an online/DL MBA through the Judge Institute. I talked with them about it last year and took part in a survey as to my opinion about the appropriate requirements and costs of such a program. This has been on the backburner at Cambridge for a few years, and was actually considered for rollout a couple years ago before cooler (read: stodgier, snobbier) heads prevailed. But at least according to insiders at Judge, it's a real possibility in the near future, albeit likely an expensive one (supposedly they were looking at a program cost along the lines of $50K USD--pricey, but not bad versus the DL MBA offerings from Duke and Emory)

 

Ah. That one.

They got as far as launching it a few years ago, and then pulled it almost immediately. It wasn't pure DL, as you have to go to Cambridge with the rest of your cohort every six weeks or so, but it was a very well-designed and interesting programme.

The price sounds about right, they were charging about thirty thousand sterling last time around.

Angela

 

Ah, Cambridge!

The University that brought us the Coffee Pot Webcam!

One of the advantages of doing the Oxford Master of Studies is that one could ever after sneer at Cambridge...

 

And I'm sure we've now all discovered Nosborne's next educational endeavor: the Oxford MSt in Law. That'd be a nice compliment to the UoL LL.M., don't you think? A couple Summers in Oxford can't be all that bad, you think? So long as you can hold down the English cuisine, which I hear from those in my family who've travelled there, is somewhere on the palatability spectrum between shoe leather and head cheese. ; ) (apologies to Gavin and Angela)

 

A friend from Nottingham tells me that the national cuisine of England is Indian food.

 

Somebody once said that the state of English cooking can reflect nothing but a national disinterest in the subject.

It's not entirely true, though. The Navy sent me to Italy, gosh, twenty years ago? for a two week reserve duty.

On the way home, we spent the night in Newmarket.

Southern Italian cuisine is nothing short of miraculous BUT the "roast beef of Old England" tasted AWFULLY GOOD after two weeks of pasta!

little fauss:

PLEASE! One degree at a time! I am by NO means certain that I will pass the first set of exams this August!

 

Hmmm, maybe not intimidated but certainly impressed. Aside from the general excellence of the university, the education, etc. I believe that the single biggest thing that Oxford has going for it (I mean in terms of general name recognition, acknowledgement of the highest quality education, etc.) are the Rhodes Scholarships. Let's face it, when enrollment in a particular school is the prize for being among the very best students world-wide, that says something very special about that school.
Jack

 

It's always amazing to me that institutions such as Cambridge, and many other in the US, who claim to put "education" first, are always willing to change procedures when money is to be made.

Harvard, to me, is an exception. Their extention program allows many people to earn a very respected degree regadless of their past. I wish it was available DL.

 

I may start believing in progress after all.

 

They kinda sorta do. The Master of Liberal Arts in IT can be done entirely online but for one semester of residency, which could be one of the shortened 7-8 week Summer semesters.

 

Not quite.

The summer session is all but useless to the ALM in IT - no relevent courses offered.

Even if the stars align and you manage to have all the non-DL available during your residency, it would be considerable load.