Athens, Ga. – More University of Georgia students will be able to participate in UGA’s popular residential study abroad program in Oxford, England, and they will live in larger and more comfortable quarters, now that the university has moved the program into a new facility.
Beginning this fall, the program will be located in a three-story Victorian house at 104 Banbury Road in Oxford. The house is next door to the house where the program has been located since 1999, but with nearly double the amount of space, the new building will enable UGA to increase enrollment by more than 80 students annually.
The University of Georgia Foundation, Inc. has purchased the 9,987-square-foot house and will lease it to the university. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved the lease arrangement today, and the first group of students will move in on Sept. 6, said Judith Shaw, UGA’s associate provost for international affairs.
The lease arrangement is necessary because the university itself is not allowed to own foreign property.
The Oxford program, begun in 1989, has always been one of UGA’s highest-demand study abroad programs and in 1999 it became the first residential program in which courses are taught throughout the academic year. But the building it was housed in-a 5,443-square-foot structure located at 106 Banbury Road-could accommodate only 27 students-a small percentage of the number wishing to participate, said Shaw.
Space was so tight that some courses had to be cancelled, and students were hampered by not having a room specifically for studying, Shaw said.
The new house will accommodate 42 students, allowing an additional 13 students to attend each of four regular sessions held throughout the year, plus an additional 50 students who are housed in Trinity College, Oxford, during the summer term.
Shaw said the house has a dedicated study room and larger gardens where students can relax.
“It’s a superior facility, ideal for a residential program,” she said.
With the additional space the university will reinstate the Fall Franklin College program, which had to be cancelled, and will start a new MBA summer program and a Foundation Fellows Program, Shaw said.
UGA’s Oxford program is associated with Oxford University, the 800-year-old institution on the Thames River in south-central England where Rhodes Scholars study. UGA faculty members participate in the study abroad program by teaching courses and conducting research and related scholarly activities.
During the academic year, UGA students have associate membership at Keble College, Oxford, which allows them access to the dining hall, library and cultural, social and athletic activities along with Oxford students. In the summer, all UGA students, including those living at the study abroad house, eat at, and have access to, Trinity College facilities.
UGA is one of only three American schools-and the only public institution-with a year-round residential study program at Oxford. The other schools are Stanford and Williams College.
The Oxford program is one of 100 study abroad programs UGA offers. Nearly 30 percent of undergraduates are involved in some form of international education each year.
