The Worcester College Certificate Programme for Cognita schools successfully finished on 15th of April.

Worcester College, University of Oxford, invited Cognita schools from all around the world to their Worcester College Certificate programme. 

Worcester College is one of the 45 colleges in Oxford, and Cognita is an education company that owns  private schools around the world. 

Students came to the UK, and lived in the college dorm during the two weeks—laundry and all the essential facilities were all available in the dorms. 

The programme provided students with educational seminars in three different segments: Economics and Management in a changing world, Artificial Intelligence and the world of Python computer coding, and Philosophy, Politics and Law. 

Current graduate or undergraduate students lead the programme.

They came to the airport to pick up the cognita students from Heathrow Airport to Worcester College. 

Two of the members were permanent staff for the programme, while others worked part time at different days for the programme.

On the first day, there was an opening party reception for people to make friends from different schools. 

Lunch groups were formed randomly based on the colour that students chose from the big bag—like a lottery—and the formed group would eat and do activities together throughout the length of the programme. 

There were a lot of interactions between students of  different cultures and background stories. 

Every morning there were  2 hours of academic seminars: students would take classes based on those 3 options. 

After having lunch based on each group—green, blue, yellow, red—students moved to the outdoor activities in groups. 

These outdoor activities include visiting the Blenheim palace, History of Science Museum , Ashmolean museums, and others.

Students visited historical places and museums to expand their views on the world and science. 

There were also teamwork activities such as scavenger hunt, netball game and Mini Court experience.    

During the weekends students explored Cambridge, another prestigious university in the UK.

They toured around the different colleges and heard interesting facts about Cambridge. 

After activities, dinner was provided from the dining hall from 6pm to 7pm.

During break times , students were allowed to explore cities in groups of 3 or more by signing out and signing in. 

Students who signed up for such outings had to give strict times on when they would leave and come back. . 

After dinner time, there were evening talks in the Nash Building, and many people gave students inspirational and educational talks; students had time to ask questions as well. 

The activities after the evening talk were usually optional.

Students were allowed to go out, and come back in before the curfew, they could sign out and go back to their dorms, or they can participate in the activities.

Activities included T-shirt making, Room Escape and Murder Mystery, Shakespeare Workshop, Calligraphy Workshop, Movie Night and others. 

In the Morning, morning sports were also available from 7:30 to 8:00. 

Sports were different for each day: Yoga, Walking, Running and Rowing. 

For the last two days, there was a farewell party and dinner was provided, and a certificate ceremony. 

Students wore formal clothes and took photos to commemorate the events. 

On the final day, students were brought to the airport to be sent back to their respective countries.  

Yujin Son
Australian International School 
Year 11