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.
