They’re off to the land of the Poet, Big Ben, and strawberries and cream. For ten fortunate and talented students, the next few months offers an opportunity of enrichment and learning, both culturally and academically at one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world: Oxford University.

Chancellor Jo Ann Gora and other UMass Boston administrators bid good luck and congratulations to ten students of various backgrounds at a sendoff in the Provost’s Conference room in the Healey Library.

In past years, UMB students had the opportunity to study at Oxford as part of an independent study, but the interest grew so much on the part of both universities that Oxford extended an offer to have a program created so that UMass Boston students could be allowed to attend at a reasonable cost. The ten students are the first group of the newly established program to go to Oxford.

Gora began by praising Lurlene Van Buren, the Study Abroad coordinator who made the program possible. The chancellor called Van Buren “the best salesman in the university”, citing a meeting between Van Buren and a university donor that took place in an elevator. Unbeknownst to Van Buren, the donor came away from the small chat so impressed that he submitted a $5000 check to UMass Boston. Gora said the money was to be used to promote Study Abroad.

Special Assistant to the Chancellor Hubie Jones stepped to the microphone to share his experiences with study abroad students. Jones has two daughters who spent considerable time in study abroad programs in Ghana and Zimbabwe. “This could be a life-altering experience,” Jones said to the students. “It was for my daughter, who returned from Ghana and said to me, ‘Dad, I want to spend the rest of my life in Africa’. You never know how new experiences will change you.”

New Provost Paul Fonteyn addressed the students with a few pointers for dealing with adversity and differences in culture. Although he cautioned the students to have patience and resolve with upcoming conflicts, he also advised them to make the most of the extraordinary opportunity presented to them.

Van Buren then introduced two students recently returned from Oxford, Rosa Ostreimer and Genya Murata. The returning UMB student described their academic and social experiences at Oxford. Osteimer raved about the one-on-one tutorials with the Oxford professors. “The best thing about the tutorials is that they are tailored to the interest of the students.” Afterwards, the ten departing students put forth questions to Ostreimer and Murata about the university, the people, and other aspects of British society.

The concluding remarks were made by Van Buren who thanked four individuals that made significant contributions to the creation of the Semester Program at Oxford: Winston Langley, professor of Political Science; Terry Mortimer, vice provost of Academic Support; Nina Silverstein, the new chair of the Study Abroad program; and John Applebee, director of the Advising department. But Van Buren reserved her last remarks for the students. “Study hard at Oxford. Be safe. And have a good time.”