Reading Parties

Reading Parties

From time to time tutors and other Senior Members may organise and invite Balliol students to attend a reading party either during or out of term. The tutors select a small group of students to go somewhere outside College to read together or revise for a week. In recent years tutors have organised reading parties in the Lake District, in Scotland, and in France at the Chalet des Anglais in the French alps, a site owned by a separate trust with trustees from Balliol, University and New Colleges. The parties may be for various subject/undergraduate or postgraduate groups, some mixed.

The College gives financial support to such reading parties.

Type of award
Academic or academic-related
Eligibility or selection criteria

At the discretion of the tutors organising them, reading parties may be organised for Balliol undergraduate or graduate students, or both, studying a particular subject or any subject.

Amount awarded

Financial support is likely to be in the form of food and subsistence for the whole group.

How and when to apply

Tutors organising reading parties will email invitations to eligible students in plenty of time before the departure date.

Further information

In all cases of travel, whether as part of a course (e.g. field work, year abroad, medical elective) or an extra-curricular activity (e.g. a project for which College has provided financial support, a College reading party, or Westerman Pathfinder award), students are responsible for taking out appropriate medical and travel insurance for the whole of their time away, including any independent trips made alongside, and for consulting relevant travel advice, for instance as provided by the Foreign Office. Reading party participants are expected to sign waivers prior to departure. Students are not permitted to travel to countries or regions for which appropriate travel insurance cannot be obtained.

If you have any queries about reading parties, please contact the Senior Tutor.