BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – During the 2009-2010 academic school year, two Illinois Wesleyan University students will study abroad in England at Oxford University. Chao Ren of Dongying, Shandong, China, a sophomore international student and history major, will study at Pembroke College as part of the Visiting Students Programme. Brandon Dorn of Glen Ellyn, Ill., a sophomore English literature major and economics minor, will study at St. Catherine’s College.
While at Pembroke, Ren will take history lecture and tutorial courses. He discovered the Pembroke Visiting Students Programme from former participant Sneh Rajbhandari, class of 2009. “It is a great opportunity for a history major to explore and experience the oldest university in the English-speaking world,” he said. “I hope that through an intensive immersion in history I will be able to better understand where and how our world came to be.”
Founded in 1624, Pembroke College admits less than 100 undergraduate students each year from schools throughout Great Britain and a small number of students from other countries for a total enrollment of approximately 400 students. Pembroke is one of 36 colleges that, along with seven private halls, make up Oxford University. Pembroke has a relationship with 12 U.S. colleges and universities: Barnard, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, George Washington, Georgetown, Haverford, Illinois Wesleyan, Tufts and the University of Pennsylvania. Illinois Wesleyan students have studied at Pembroke College since 1997.
Dorn will study at Oxford through Butler University’s Institute for Study Abroad. He chose Oxford University and St. Catherine’s College in particular because of his interest to live in a different environment. Dorn said that he hopes this experience will make him more comfortable as a citizen of the world.