JOIN USAfter completing my BSc at the University of Mysore, I applied for the MSc programme at the University of Oxford and my application was accepted.
But I didn’t know how to mobilise funds since my family was not in a position to meet the expenses. I then applied for the Indira Gandhi scholarship at the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development and after an interview, was awarded one of the first three scholarships. This covered my tuition fee and living expenses and Oxford became a reality.
I reached Oxford on September 29, 2013, to join the 135-year-old Somerville College, part of the 918-year-old Oxford University. In the beginning the college was only for women. The college started admitting men as undergraduates in 1994.
Many celebrities/politicians have studied in the college including Margaret Thatcher, former UK Prime Minister. Cornelia Sorabji was the first Indian woman to join Somerville College in 1889. Since then many Indians have studied in the college. The most prominent Indian student of the College was Indira Gandhi.
She was a student at Somerville in 1937 in the department of Modern History.The Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development was established in 2013 at Somerville College for the study of India and sustainable development in partnership with the wider University of Oxford.
The objective of the centre is to help shape India’s growth by educating, connecting and supporting its future leaders in sustainable development and by forging lasting partnerships between Indian institutions and the University of Oxford. In 2013, Somerville and the University launched the Oxford-Indira Gandhi Scholarships for Indian postgraduate students who wished to study sustainable development -related subjects at Oxford. I was one of the first three Indian students selected for the programme.
Learning at Oxford
The Oxford academic system works in quite a different way. For graduate students, the college takes care of logistics and all academic activity takes place at respective departments. In my MSc (Biodiversity, Conservation and Management) course, there were 28 students.
They hailed from Canada, North America, South America, UK, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australia. The group was diverse in age and some were above the age of 30 and many of them were married. During discussions, we got many view points due to this diversity. This helped me very much in understanding global biodiversity conservation issues.
My course lasted one year with three terms of eight weeks each. The classes were interactive and intensive. Usually, I had two classes of two hours each day. The first half of the class was actual teaching by tutors and the other half was usually group reading and discussions.
The biggest difference that I found between Oxford and Indian universities was the issue of attendance. In Oxford attendance was not compulsory, but things were so well designed to make you responsible and not bunk classes!
Rather than relying only on textbooks, students are encouraged to use primary sources like research papers. Tutors encourage students to write exams in their own words using their own case studies and experiences.
It is clearly stated in the examination regulation book that maximum marks will be given to answers that are original in nature. Preparing pupils to think independently and in their own way is the best part of Western universities. I think this has made Western universities occupy the top positions in the list of the world’s best universities.
Since my course was practical and field oriented, I had lot of field trips to understand conservation and biodiversity. We visited different places in England like Kew botanical gardens, Stow gardens etc. In my second term, we had a week-long visit to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands.
I understood how the islands work and the threat to the island’s flora and fauna. In my last term I had three exams. The first was on biodiversity, the second was on the ethics of biodiversity conservation and last one was on policy. I enjoyed the exams since the questions were applied and we could pull out answers from anywhere. I answered mainly by drawing on lots of Indian case studies and also my personal experience.
Another notable part of my course was three months independent dissertation work. My dissertation topic was ‘Non-timber forest products mainly focusing on cycas swamyi plant harvest in India.’ Fortunately, I was provided with departmental and college bursaries for my dissertation project.
I think the best part of Oxford was the social life. Initially it was a culture shock to me. Generally, the campus will be in full academic mood. Towards the end of the week, it gradually changes and will be in party mood.
As I socialised, I started to meet a lot of interesting people from different countries. Slowly I started to get involved in Oxford India Society activities. We organised cultural events, bops, games etc through the society. Along with parties and games, there were always many talks in different departments. This gave me an opportunity to learn beyond my course.