There are roughly 100 major academic departments, which are overseen by the four academic divisions: Medical Sciences; Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences.

Each department organises teaching and research in a different subject area, from Anthropology to Zoology. There are also many smaller, specialist research centres and sub-departments.

The Department for Continuing Education offers part-time, flexible courses and programmes for adult learners. It offers more than 1,000 courses each year, including weekly classes, online courses, day, weekend and summer schools, undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, and continuing professional development courses.

Oxford is famous for offering one of the best educations in the world. One of the reasons for this is the distinct way subjects are taught. You’ll have individual access to world-class academic experts; this may be in tutorials, lectures, classes or laboratory work.

Tutorials are central to teaching here. They are conversations, normally between two or three students and their tutor, and offer a rare level of personalised attention from academic experts. Tutorials are regular, rigorous academic discussions, and provide individual feedback on work.

Many courses also give you the opportunity to follow your own in-depth research for a dissertation or project. These pieces of independent research often take place towards the end of a degree, and allow you to focus on a subject that you’ve found particularly interesting and to develop excellent research skills.