Part-time study week brings postgraduate students back to Wolfson

“Part-time study week is a great way for Wolfson to reach out to our part-time student community and ensure students are taking full advantage of college life,” says Andrew Flower, part-time student welfare officer for the Wolfson College Students Association.

During the week, part-time students live in College, making it easy to socialise and exchange ideas about their research in the cafeteria, College bar and at Formal Hall. They also make use of the various study spaces around College to progress with their research and writing.

Additional scheduled sessions provide boosts to social and academic life, including a College garden tour and a walk to Granchester, as well as regular writing workshops offered by Academic Skills Librarian Alberto Garcia Jr. One student, Elizabeth Pidoux, who is reading for an MSt in Writing for Performance, described these workshops as "An invaluable opportunity."

"One might imagine that battling with your own creative or academic wits, while a group of fellow students typed intensely around you, would be an off-putting experience. Not a bit of it. We seemed to encourage each other tacitly to get on and produce. The hours flew by. It was a temple of silent work, leavened by tea and biscuits!" she added.

An interdisciplinary experience

31 postgraduate Wolfson students registered for the part-time study week this year from 15 different disciplines, including Criminology, Entrepreneurship, International Relations, History, and Medical Education.

“The fact that the special study week has been an opportunity to meet up with other people who are doing different degrees has been a godsend,” says Zen Gashi, a Senior Physician reading for an MSt in Medical Education. “It’s been great to exchange ideas, link with each other and help each other out one way or another, not just within our course but also further afield.”

“The connections and cross-disciplinary discussions are often as important as the study during the week in terms of sparking new ideas,” adds Andrew Flower. “Since Wolfson College has the largest part time student body of any college in Cambridge, we can offer many of these opportunities to our students.”

Dedicated part-time support

This academic year, Wolfson College has 311 part-time students currently studying courses at the University (285 part-time Master’s students and 26 part-time PhD students), with a further 101 in the process of writing up their dissertations (87 part-time Master’s students and 14 part-time PhD students).

In addition to the part-time students’ representative, Wolfson also has three dedicated part-time tutors: Dr Debbie Pullinger, Dr Meg Westbury and Dr Jamie Trinidad, who are experienced in providing support, advice and guidance to those on part-time courses.

"It’s always a delight to be able to welcome our part-timers into College this week – and what a rich and stimulating week it’s been! We loved hearing about so many fascinating pieces of research – from such varied fields as sustainable architecture and medical practice to writing for performance,” said Dr Debbie Pullinger.

"We had wonderful lunch-time conversations full of laughs and sharing useful information. I'm already looking forward to next year!" added Dr Meg Westbury.

Part-time Wolfson students will receive information about future study weeks by email in due course.