Want to improve your public speaking and debate skills?

Want to improve your public speaking and debate skills? This debating summer course will help you develop confidence, learn persuasive techniques, and practise the art of rebuttal — skills that are essential in many careers and day-to-day life. You’ll learn what made famous speeches so powerful and put your skills to the test in our international diplomacy challenge.
The Oxford Union has hosted some of the world’s most famous and influential speakers. Our Experience Debate and Public Speaking Academy is your chance to join them.Alongside ambitious students from all over the world, you’ll sharpen your speaking skills, deepen your knowledge of current affairs and gain invaluable insights that will give you a head start in your future.

This course is part of the programme
Course fit
Compare available dates, duration, campus, fees and availability. Open a session for accommodation details.
The accommodation is on the Oxford University campus and is just a short 10 minute walk to the classes. You can see photos and read more about our accommodation here.
Students take part in a packed schedule of academic, social and cultural activities. Typically, mornings are taken up with academic content, while in the afternoon students experience a mixture of skills-based Masterclasses and cultural activities.
We ask that our students can speak, read and understand English well (our minimum English level is Common European Framework Level C1 which equates to IELTS 6.5).
Students' welfare and safety is our top priority at the Oxford Scholastica Academy. Students each have a Head of House, who is residential in their accommodation building, and is available day and night. During the day, we have a team of Activities Coordinators (one for every ten to fifteen students) who are there to support and supervise the students. Students do have some unsupervised free time during the day - for example, they have a two-hour lunch break on most days, which they can use to explore Oxford with their friends - and we aim to strike a balance of safe independence. Our younger students are not allowed to leave the building unless they sign out with a friend and for the first few days, a member of our team will walk with them to show them where to go for lunch.
We are very happy to help with airport transfers: We recommend flying to London Heathrow, as it's the closest airport to Oxford Our staff team will be there on arrival day, and if you book a flight which arrives at Heathrow between 8am and 3pm you'll be able to book to join our minibus service (which leaves between 9am and 4pm) On departure day, our minibus leaves Oxford between 6am and 12pm, so if your flight leaves from 10am to 4pm you'll be able to book onto this (we recommend allowing a minimum of four hours between the taxi leaving Oxford and the flight departure time, in order to be on the safe side).
No, we do not provide insurance - we'd recommend checking with your travel insurers to ensure that you are covered.
Students graduating from our programme will receive a personalised Letter of Recommendation and a Certificate of Achievement - these are invaluable assets for future university applications and an excellent example of proven interest in a subject. We often support alumni with their university applications by submitting their Letter of Recommendation directly to universities.
You can click here - https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor - for the latest visa information from the UK government about visas, including how to apply for a visa, how long it takes, and what it costs. Once the balance of the fees have been paid, we can send an official stamped letter which you can use to apply for your visa.