Director: Jaki Leverson, B. Sc. Econ., University College of Wales, Aberystwyth; M. Litt., University of Oxford.

Tufts in London maintains a program office at University College staffed by a full-time resident director who provides a full range of academic counseling and student services, acts as liaison between students and University College London or the School of Oriental and African Studies, provides a program of extracurricular cultural and social activities, and coordinates all aspects of the program. The resident director’s office is open to students on a daily basis. Each student is also assigned an academic adviser from the faculty of UCL or SOAS.

Also, Tufts offers a special course called "Contemporary British Politics and Society" in the fall semester and a parliamentary internship course in the spring semester, both of which carry political science credit.

Other internships may also be arranged for the spring semester. These do not carry credit but may be used for transcript notation if desired. Although the same placements are not always available, over the past years, internships have been found in a wide variety of areas: business and finance, publishing, the media (BBC World Radio and NBC), local press, child welfare organisations, the Anna Freud Centre, environmental and political interest groups, London Mayor’s Office, University College Hospital and Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children (research-based), museums and art galleries.

The School Of Oriental and African Studies (http://www.soas.ac.uk/) is structured academically into three faculties: Arts & Humanities; Languages & Cultures; and Law & Social Sciences. Tufts students may take courses from all three faculties:

Arts & Humanities
Anthropology & Sociology
Art & Archaeology
History
Music
Study of Religions
Media & Film Studies Program

Languages & Cultures
Africa
China & Inner Asia
Japan & Korea
Near & Middle East
South & South East Asia

Law & Social Sciences
Development Economics
Finance & Management Studies
Law
Politics & International Studies

A study-abroad student following an undergraduate program at University College London or at the School of Oriental and African Studies will find that it consists of a series of lectures, seminars, tutorials and laboratory classes (in science and engineering), which in total account for about fifteen hours per week. Arts students may well find that their official contact with faculty is less than this average, while science and engineering students may expect to be scheduled for up to twenty hours per week. Students take a series of lecture courses which may be a full-year or half-year in length. Associated with each lecture course are seminars, tutorials, and possibly laboratory classes which draw on, analyze, illustrate, or amplify the topics presented in the lectures. Lecture classes can vary in size from twenty to two hundred. Seminars and tutorials are on the whole much smaller than lecture classes and in some departments can be on a one-to-one basis. Students are normally expected to prepare work in advance for seminars and tutorials. Preparation can take the form of researching a topic for discussion, writing essays, or solving problems. Multiple-choice questions are never used as a means of assessment. Lectures, seminars, and tutorials are all one hour in length, while laboratory classes usually last two to three hours. Many courses run for the full year and examinations for all courses are held in the final term.

Much emphasis is put on individual study in British universities, and students are expected to spend as much time, if not more, studying by themselves as being taught. In Britain, students say that they go up to university to read for a degree, thus emphasizing the private study nature of university-level work in the United Kingdom. You should expect to spend eight to ten hours studying on your own for every hour spent in class. Successful study at University College London requires an ability to be self-motivated and pursue academic goals seriously and independently.

To help overseas students select a full course load, each course at University College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies has been assigned a credit value. Over the year, students will ordinarily register for the equivalent of eight Tufts course credits but, in certain circumstances, may be permitted to register for the equivalent of nine or ten.

Tufts students are housed in University College London’s or the School of Oriental and African Studies' residence halls, which accommodate from 100 to 380 students each. All of these dormitories are coeducational, and many are within a few minutes walk of the college. When applying for accommodations, students are encouraged to apply to the popular "self-catering" dormitories with kitchens where they may do their own cooking, but there are two residences where a limited meal plan is provided.

A week-long orientation program is held prior to the start of the first term. Designed to introduce students to life and study in London, the first part is organized specifically for Tufts students by the resident director; the second half is provided by University College London or the School of Oriental and African Studies for all overseas students. In addition to attending various information sessions and meeting professors and departmental advisers, students are offered a full program of social activities throughout the week.

The Tufts-in-London program provides optional subsidized day and weekend trips. Recent locations have included Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, Edinburgh, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. Tufts-in-London participants are able to attend a selection of cultural events and group meals at a highly subsidized cost or at the program’s expense. All University College London and SOAS activities are open to Tufts-in-London students on the same basis as for non-visiting students.

The UCL Students’ Union provides a wide range of activities and opportunities all of which are open to Tufts in London students on the same basis and costs as for the British students. Outdoor sports include soccer, hockey, lacrosse, crew and rugby (men’s and women’s), rock climbing, mountaineering, horse-riding, and there are courts for squash and badminton. Other clubs and societies range from debate through to college TV, and there are religious, political and ethnic societies to meet all tastes and interests. The gym in the union provides good equipment and a variety of fitness and dance classes. An indoor swimming pool is available at the University of London Union (ULU) just next door to the college where a court is also available for basketball.

The UCL Students’ Union also offers a variety of volunteer
opportunities for students, for example: teaching in local schools, helping homeless people, and in-patient hospital visiting.
.

• Week-long orientation;
• Full room and board (accommodations excluding meals during vacation provided);
• Full tuition and fees for University College London or the School of Oriental and African Studies;
• Use of all facilities at UCL or SOAS such as e-mail, libraries, athletics and clubs;
• Tutorials for all courses;
• Tickets for a variety of cultural events such as plays, concerts, operas, and group meals;
• Subsidies for day and weekend excursions as previously mentioned.