I’ll be writing my next few pieces on what it’s like to be studying abroad at a university in the United Kingdom. I’m at The School of Oriental and African Studies within the all-encompassing University of London.
Freshman week unites us in special ways. “Freshers’ week” does the same thing in the United Kingdom, binding students with a caffeine-fueled week of presentations about libraries, registering for classes, scavenger hunts and enthusiastic upperclassmen.
Although reminiscent of freshman week, the biggest difference between the University and The School of Oriental and African Studies is their definitions of a university education. SOAS is a younger, smaller, bolder institution whose goals can consequently be more precise and ambitious.
The first difference is the definition of an academic experience. When the director of SOAS spoke about the institution’s history, she proudly explained, “SOAS was founded to focus specifically on Asia, Africa and the Middle East.” The school only offers area-specific classes in anthropology, sociology, economics, history, history of art and archaeology, music, religion and the arts. The academic experience here is therefore linked with a new, important narrative of study that is inclusive of historically academically underrepresented regions of the world. While the University does support research and teaching that challenges existing scholarship, the majority of disciplines, languages and regional studies are fairly traditional. This difference can be traced to the founding of both institutions — ours founded with a charter to welcome students “of every Religious Denomination” after the religious upheavals in the British colonies during the 18th century, and SOAS founded with a charter (nearly 200 years later) to advance British scholarship of its own colonies. The University’s diversity is held in its students, while SOAS’s is held in the subjects it offers.
The emphasis on language is another difference within the definition of an academic experience. The school offers languages like Tibetan, Zulu, Kurdish and Indonesian. Every student is encouraged to take a language through the Language Entitlement Programme that ensures students in every discipline have a spot as an auditor for one year in a language of their choice, or a free class through the SOAS Language Centre, a separate, for-profit school that accepts students of all ages from all over the United Kingdom for weekly, summer or intensive language classes. Knowing that my friends in the engineering school often have trouble fitting languages into their schedule, I think Princeton could learn from a program like this.
The second realm is the definition of a social experience. At the welcome reception for the history department, the professors insisted they all be called by their first names. They encouraged students to learn from living in the city as much as from archives. (As the town of Princeton was founded somewhere in the 17th century, and London was founded in 43 A.D., this is, of course, an unfair comparison.) However, it's still worth encouraging students to dive into the history and culture the town of Princeton has to offer. Furthermore, all the freshmen events are open, enthusiastically, to study abroad, exchange and graduate students. Freshman week for us is exclusively for freshmen, but after experiencing the range of people at freshman week in SOAS, I believe it can only do the University community good to open some of the freshman events non-freshmen who are also new to the University.
The third realm is the definition of an international experience. Ranked eighth in the world for diversity of student body, SOAS has international students representing 160 countries and 38 percent of the student body, compared to Princeton’s 11 per cent. Perhaps this is due to ease of mainland Europeans accessing university in the United Kingdom, but it’s nonetheless an undeniable statistic. Anyone pursuing a degree in area studies must complete one year abroad in the area of research, and anyone pursuing a joint degree in a language must also spend time in that country. Anyone can study abroad. This is not the same at the University, due to perceived difficulty and availability of class credit transferring. While I do not advocate that studying abroad is for everyone, I believe more students in more departments should at least have the option to go abroad rather than feel constricted by departmental requirements.
As expected, however, the root of a university is the same everywhere: to spark a desire for the pursuit of knowledge and equip students with the lifelong capabilities to sustain it. The way a school conducts its orientation programs is a good lens to start seeing that seed sprout.
Azza Cohen is a history major fromHighland Park, Ill. She can be reached at accohen@princeton.edu.
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