The Miami Royal Holloway Semester in England
The Miami University Department of English and Office of International Education are proud to announce Miami's newest semester abroad program: The Miami Royal Holloway Semester in England. Students will have the opportunity to study in any of the 22 departments at Royal Holloway, University of London during the fall or spring semester or for an entire academic year. For more information on the study abroad program at Royal Holloway, see Study Abroad at Royal Holloway.
During her February 2006 visit, Royal Holloway professor Judith Hawley gave a PowerPoint presentation(ppt) about Royal Holloway. This is also available in PDF(pdf) format.
Location
Royal Holloway is located in Egham, Surrey, just west of London. The university is 7 miles from Heathrow Airport and 19 miles from London's city center. Egham is small, like Oxford, and most of the social life centers around the university. The distance to London is similar to the distance between Oxford and Cincinnati, but is served by public transportation.
Educational System
Students at English universities earn three-year degrees in a focused subject, for which they have usually prepared in high school. Their first year corresponds to our sophomore year. Typically students spend fewer hours in the classroom in the UK than in the US, which means that students have to be self-motivated to keep up with their studies outside the classroom and to make independent connections between what they read and what they are studying. The focus is less on being given the answers by a professor, and more on raising questions and analyzing situations. Students, particularly upperclassmen, are expected to be responsible for their own learning.
Student Services
A direct-enroll program such as Royal Holloway requires flexibility, independence and self-motivation, both inside and outside of the classroom. If you prefer a more structured program with more student services provided (pre-departure and in England), please explore other programs in England at http://www.muohio.edu/international/sa-uk.php.
Academic Calendar
Miami students have the option of attending for the Autumn Term, the Spring and Summer Terms or for the entire academic year.
Autumn Term
late September - mid-December
(up to 16 credits) |
Spring & Summer Terms
mid-January - mid-June
(up to 16 credits) |
Academic year
late September - mid-June
(with 1 month vacation between terms)
(up to 32 credits) |
Exact dates can be found here. Students are required to stay at Royal Holloway for the entirety of the term in order to receive credit.
2008-09 Arrival Dates
Students studying at Royal Holloway in fall 2008 should plan to arrive at Heathrow Airport on 20 September if they wish to take advantage of the free shuttle service from the airport to Egham. Students studying in spring 2009 should plan to arrive at Heathrow on 8 January. For travel/airfare tips, see our Before You Leave page.
Academic Credit
One unit at Royal Holloway is equal to 8 Miami University credit hours. Most Royal Holloway courses are offered for 0.5 unit and most students take 4 of these 0.5 unit courses, for a total of 16 credit hours. Some courses are offered in one semester only, but others (A/S courses) are full-year courses. Students may be able to take one semester of a full-year course for 0.5 unit, but this is decided on a class-by-class basis. You can contact an adviser at Miami or Royal Holloway to find out if this is possible for a given class.
These will be applied as transfer credit and must be taken for a grade (rather than pass/fail). They will be listed on your Miami transcript but will not calculated into your GPA. To apply these credits to specific requirements, such as major or minor requirements or electives, Miami Plan or thematic sequence, you can complete a Transfer Credit Approval Form with the assistance of your academic adviser. See the Applying section of this site for more information on credit transfer.
Fields of Study
Royal Holloway's study abroad program offers courses in the following fields. Remember, your major may have a different department title at Royal Holloway than it does at Miami. You should always discuss course equivalencies with an academic adviser in your department at Miami. It is strongly recommended that you take courses from no more than two departments at Royal Holloway. You can find course descriptions and more information here. The online course information is more current than the information in the printed booklet, so please compare the two.
Founders Hall
- Biological Sciences
- Classics
- Computer Science
- Drama & Theatre
- Economics
- English Literature - see tentative course equivalencies (2006-07)(pdf) from Miami's English department
- European Studies
- Geography
- Geology
- History
- Management
- Mathematics
- Media Arts
- Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures: French, German, Hispanic Studies, Italian (see the London & Paris program page for more information on Royal Holloway's program at the University of London Institute in Paris)
- Music
- Physics
- Politics & International Relations
- Psychology
Eligibility
At least a 3.0 grade point average is required (no exceptions). Some individual departments may have higher GPA requirements. There may be prerequisites for certain courses. Students should be prepared for an academically and culturally challenging program.
Application
Required forms are available online or in hard copy in the Office of International Education. A complete application to the Miami Royal Holloway Semester in England includes the following:
- Royal Holloway Application Form(pdf)
- A copy of your Miami University transcript (see Office of the Registrar, Campus Avenue Building)
- Two recommendation forms(pdf) completed by Miami University faculty members
- Disciplinary report(pdf) submitted to Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution
When the application is complete, please turn it in to Sarah McNitt in the Office of International Education, 222 MacMillan Hall.
Application deadlines: April 4, 2008 (fall 2008 or academic year 2008-09); rolling admission until October 10, 2008 (spring 2009). However, applicants for Spring 2009 are strongly encouraged to apply by the end of the spring 2008 semester. Courses may fill up if you wait until October.
After you have been accepted to the program, you must complete a Study Abroad Declaration Form and turn it in to the Office of International Education. More information about Miami University requirements can be found on our general Applying page.
Fees and Financial Aid
The Miami Royal Holloway Semester in England is a Miami Co-Sponsored program. For more information on financial aid and payment, see Co-Sponsored Programs. Please talk to a financial aid adviser in the Office of Student Financial Assistance if you have any questions about your financial aid package and which forms/amounts of aid will be transferred to Royal Holloway.
2007-2008 Royal Holloway Fees:
- Whole Year: £14,018
- Autumn (Fall) Semester: £6,405
- Spring & Summer Semester: £7,455
Currency conversions can be performed here: http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Note that the program fee includes charges for:
- all tuition
- continuous occupancy throughout the study period of a single study bedroom
- access to College facilities (such as libraries, computing facilities, student welfare and health centre services)
- membership of the Students' Union
- provision of the Study Abroad social programme
- registration, enrolment and the issue of transcripts
Certain minor incidental expenses are not included in the program fee, such as occasional photocopying, landline telephone installations and rental charges, some teaching materials.
Student residences are self-catered, so board is not included in the program fee. Students should budget for these additional costs.
For more information, see the Royal Holloway fees page.
Visas
Students who are studying at Royal Holloway for one semester need to request the Student Visitor Visa as they enter the UK. You must enter the UK directly in order to request this visa (airport connections do not count). You must go through UK customs and immigration to receive the visa, which you would not normally do when entering from another EU country. The documentation that you should carry with you is listed on the Student Visitor Visa page of the UK embassy website.
Students who are studying at Royal Holloway for a full academic year or who will be working while studying abroad need to apply for the Student Visa after they have received their official acceptance letter from Royal Holloway.
Travel
See our Before You Go page for information on traveling to England.
As for travel within the UK and Europe, there are many transportation options available, including trains, planes and buses. Budget-rate European airlines include RyanAir, EasyJet, Virgin, Brussels and Wizz. If you plan to travel by train frequently, you may want to look into a BritRail or EurRail pass or a Young Person's Railcard. We recommend talking to returned students about their travel experiences and expenses. Consult a study abroad adviser for students' contact information.
The Royal Holloway International Office also has resources to help you plan trips.
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact Sarah McNitt in the Office of International Education.
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