University

17 Jun 09

It’s impossible to introduce people to all 20,000 students at Oxford. But the ‘Wall of 100 Faces’ aims to show, on one webpage, a mix of people and personalities at Oxford University.

The ‘Wall of 100 Faces’ has been put together with 100 Oxford students volunteering to tell people about their time at the University and in the city through video.

The wall is made up of ‘bricks’ of 100 short videos, showing students talking about what they like about their subject or their college, how they spend their free time, or even how they miss their car.

Visitors to the web page can see all 100 videos, or filter to only see undergraduate, graduate or international students, or people talking about their study or what they do when not in libraries, lectures, labs and tutorials.

The 100 faces are a mixture of undergraduate and graduate students, from the UK and overseas, from many different colleges and studying a wide range of subjects.

From playing Gaelic football and running sex education classes at local schools, to teaching Mandarin to fellow students and going to rock gigs in Oxford, students talk about what they do when not studying, as well as how they have settled in to their studies and life at the University. 

The videos are not designed to give information about how to apply or give detailed information on what it is like to study particular subjects, but are current students talking about their experiences at the University.

In her film, Helen McCabe, now a postgraduate student at Oxford, talks about her DPhil studies and what made her decide to apply to the University as an undergraduate.

‘Before I came to an open day I was worried that everyone would be a boy from a public school with a posh accent. At the open day I found there was a huge variety of people – both some I was expecting and lots I wasn’t.

'My Dad had some preconceived ideas about Oxford students too, and initially wasn’t that keen for me to apply as he was worried I wouldn’t fit in or be happy. But he changed his mind at the open day when he saw how friendly and welcoming everyone was, and they kept him supplied with tea and doughnuts!

‘If people can’t get to an open day, or are too put off by the Oxford stereotype to even get as far as an open day, I would suggest taking a look at the videos. It would be a shame to be put off by myths that aren’t true – I nearly was but I’ve been here for seven years now.’

The website will be updated throughout the year, with more students talking about their time at Oxford.  

A freelance video producer, Hannah Madsen, produced the videos. Hannah is a recent Oxford graduate so has an appreciation of what it is like to be student at the University. She spent a couple of hours with each student, interviewing them and filming them doing various activities, such as their academic classes, cooking in a student kitchen and student-organised yoga.