Spread across a hill city, the Durham University — England’s third oldest university established in 1832 after the reputable Oxford and Cambridge — is continuing to attract international students, including from India, for its varied undergraduate and master’s degree programmes.
A university town that boasts of a UNESCO World Heritage Site — a cathedral built between 1093 and 1133 — Durham has an estimated 22,000 students and 17 colleges of residence. This includes Durham Castle, a college in the Norman architecture style, that is out of bounds for outsiders. Of the students, 32% come from 120 countries outside the U.K. “Indian students represent the third highest group of international students. The largest group is from China, followed by the USA,” says Rob Lynes, principal of Stephenson College, and the Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor Global of Durham University.
While the undergraduate programme, as in India, has a three-year duration, the master’s degree can be completed in one year, as is the case with all universities in the U.K. Academics at the university say that a year is adequate to cover the core aspects of the master’s programme. Unlike the theory-heavy academic rigour expected in India, graduate students at Durham usually attend classes for two hours daily on weekdays and spend the rest of their time on research and projects, within their respective college environs.
Unique collegiate system
An interesting aspect is that the collegiate system is different not only from the university-affiliated colleges in India but also from Oxford and Cambridge, which are the only other collegiate universities in England. “In Oxford and Cambridge, the teaching is done through the colleges. Whereas in Durham, teaching happens through the departments,” points out Prof. Lynes.
Then what are the colleges for? Providing catered and non-catered accommodations for students, the colleges are essentially smaller communities within the larger one of the university, somewhat along the lines of the House system in many Indian schools. Each college has around 1,200 students, who live in the college accommodations in the first year with an option to subsequently move out to private accommodations in the city.
“When a student leaves Durham, he or she leaves with a world class degree. We want our students to become global citizens to make a positive contribution to global society. That personal development and growth is really important for us. That sits alongside that academic growth,” adds Prof. Lynes. Incidentally, support for students’ mental health is ubiquitous in the university and college campuses.
Sports and societies
Through the numerous societies in its collegiate system, the university offers students opportunities to excel in sports, music, arts, sustainable development, and even a ‘grow society’ to cultivate vegetables. Essentially, students get an opportunity to take up leadership roles in these societies.
“I knew nothing about fencing. In the college, I opted for it and now I am in the university second fencing team. I could not have afforded to learn this outside as it is a costly affair,” says Allaida, a student hailing from Malaysia, while taking visiting journalists on a tour of the extraordinary indoor and outdoor sporting facilities. She adds that students and faculty prefer to walk to the campuses. “You can reach the university or the college from anywhere in the city by walk. It is all within 45 minutes,” she says matter-of-factly. The hilly climatic conditions and the pedestrian-friendly terrain elevates the walking experience.
“We are the number one university for team sports in the U.K. since 2013. We have 700 sports teams,” says Matt Jarvis, the university’s regional manager for south Asia.
“In a college, we support their academic studies without doing the teaching. We support the student’s well-being and enrichment. They find the college community as their home within the wider university community. This is what we call the Durham difference,” says Prof. Lynes.
Prepared for the workforce
The university also offers four-year integrated master’s programmes for some subjects. Its specialties include programmes in theology, religion, and archaeology. The fee for academic programmes is in the range of £26,000 to £29,000, excluding the accommodation costs.
According to career advisor Peter Fox, the university also helps students find and apply for part-time jobs, build entrepreneurial skills, and make effective applications for jobs.
Mrunmayee Bhagwat from Pune, who is pursuing her master’s degree in management at Durham, says that she had chosen the programme as it is known as one of the university’s strengths. “I was placed here by the India-based Fateh Education [a private consultancy]. I did not find any difficulty in adjusting to the U.K. environment. The teaching here is so different. We are encouraged to think rather than merely being taught,” she says.
Suneet Singh Kochar, chief executive of Fateh Education, says that the cost of education and accommodation at Durham is cheaper in comparison to London, where the cost of living is higher. The hill city is also not too crowded. Therefore, many Indian students prefer to opt for it for higher studies, he says, noting that “81% of our students in 2023 chose to study outside London”.
(The writer visited the Durham campus on invitation from the university and Fateh Education)
