harris manchester united meeting

(Harris) Manchester United? Meeting the student runners at a special college

Standing in the Junior Common Room at Harris Manchester College

waiting for the student runners I was scheduled to interview, I was

struck by the very distinctive atmosphere that pervades the college.

It is the only college I have visited where the annual photo of the

undergraduate students routinely includes a number of their children,

making it look much more like the portrait of a very large and

extended (and diverse) family group.

Harris Manchester is the only Oxford College that is dedicated to

mature students; the youngest is 21 years of age, but there is no

upper age limit. It is also Oxford's smallest college, with under one

hundred undergraduate students in total. This however contributes to

the friendliness of the place.

I had turned up to speak with the student runners, who are employed by

each college during the interview process to assist the applicants in

navigating their way around the place, ensuring they find their way to

the appropriate interview room and have the correct extracts to read

in advance. They also keep the Common Room supplied with fresh tea and

coffee and provide a sympathetic and understanding presence to meet

and greet the applicants each day.

Geraldine (first year Theology), Karen (first year Law) and Toby

(final year PPE) were united in their enthusiasm for the role they had

in the admissions process. Karen was particularly keen to support the

current applicants. She secured her place at Harris Manchester in 2007

after re-applying - she could therefore draw upon the experience of

both being disappointed and successful in the Oxford admissions

process.

Geraldine had volunteered to help because, having had a career and

returning to study, she felt it important that the candidates saw that

Harris Manchester was a destination for not only twenty-somethings.

Toby had helped out every year whilst a student - Harris Manchester

has a significant pool of PPE applicants each year, and he felt that

it was important for there to be at least one runner that could

represent this area to the candidates.

While a group of candidates waiting for Law and History interviews

relaxed by playing a few frames of snooker, Geraldine commented that

the age differences between students at Harris Manchester were not the

issue that many applicants believed it would be. The strong motivation

to study, combined with the focus at Oxford on attracting students who

show enthusiasm and potential for their subject discipline, provides,

in her view, a common and uniting bond that transcended any age

differences. This was a view echoed by Karen, who felt that the peer

support and the wealth of life experience amongst the undergraduates

made for a vibrant and non-judgemental community. Meals at Harris

Manchester emphasise this; a casual visitor would be hard-pressed to

identify who are the tutors and who are the students.

The support and assistance that the runners offer appears to be

appreciated by the applicants. Toby has, over the years he has helped

out, built a number of friendships with people he has met during the

interview period, who then, having received an offer, kept in touch

with him in the remainder of the year prior to starting the course,

whilst Geraldine had a clutch of e-mail addresses from this year's

applicants who wanted to let her know the outcome of their interview.

Harris Manchester, like all of the Colleges, will typically invite

interview candidates for two or three days - during the periods when

candidates are not being assessed, the runners arrange visits to

various parts of the city, or evening entertainment. Toby feels that

this is a key part of the process, particularly for those candidates

that are not familiar with Oxford. In particular he sees that many of

the candidates who have returned to study, especially those currently

at Further Education Colleges, have many misperceptions about the

College and the University, and having forty eight hours to address

these concerns and issues ensures that the applicants leave with a

much greater appreciation and understanding of what Oxford is and is

not.

As the group broke up to go and take the Law students to their

interviews, I couldn't help but think that if Harris Manchester didn't

exist, then it would have to be invented. It fulfills an important, if