Summer in Scotland

The course aims to provide you with an overview of Scottish Education and to aid in critical reflection on different educational practices. In this course, you will have the opportunity to compare the importance of education in a global context as you find out more about the historical, cultural, and political influences on different educational systems, and what you need to know and be able to do in local contexts to be successful.

There is a focus on education in action during this course, with visits to a selection of local schools at kindergarten, elementary, and secondary levels to observe teaching in Scotland first hand. The observations will be complemented by focused input from the University of Glasgow’s expert academic staff and guided discussion with multicultural group members. The aim of this course is to provide an overview of education in global and local contexts, and to reflect critically on different educational practices.

This course will introduce you to fantasy and the fantastic, often defined as the "literature of the impossible". We will survey key texts across different media (e.g. by J.R.R. Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin, as well as cinematic and TV fantasy), while exploring critical approaches and recent theoretical debates. You will also have an opportunity to try your hand at writing fantasy in a Creative Writing workshop.

Forensic psychology applies psychological theory to understanding crime, policing, criminal justice, and rehabilitation. In this two-week course, you will explore the origins of forensic psychology within the context of psychology as a whole, as well as learn about key theories and methodologies within the field. You will also have the opportunity to take part in practical activities in class, such as detecting deception and criminal profiling.

As part of the course assessment, you will complete a case study report on a serial killer as well as complete a short essay discussing variable methodologies used in forensic psychology.

From advertising to social media, 24/7 news to reality TV, we live in a world full of information, but how do we know what to trust or not? How can we tell what is distorted, biased, or just playing up to what we want to believe? How can we interrogate our own assumptions and prejudices to arrive at sounder, more reasoned opinions?

Join this timely and reflective course to learn how to think more rationally and argue better. In daily talks and discussions, discover foundational concepts and techniques in logic and reasoning that enable you to approach any topic methodically, from the structure of arguments, deduction, induction, and rational persuasiveness, to logical fallacies and cognitive biases. Learn how to apply these to spot bad arguments, effectively counter them, and reach more rigorous answers.

Whether you are interested in the Arts, Social Sciences, Science, Engineering or Math, take this course to find new ways to interrogate the information you are presented with, forge better arguments, and arrive at sounder opinions and conclusions.

Immerse yourself in Scottish Gaelic, a 1500-year-old language that spread across the country as the main Scottish language of the medieval Kingdom of Alba.

In this two-week course you will develop basic communication skills in the language, learning how to greet people, exchange personal details, talk about yourself and your daily life, as well as interact in common everyday situations (shops, restaurants, hotels, etc.).

You will also develop basic cultural awareness of the areas where the language is spoken and also learn about the history, culture, music, and customs of this centuries-old language.

No previous experience of learning Scottish Gaelic is required.

This new international summer school course explores the cultures and histories of Scotland through the multi-disciplinary perspectives offered by Archaeology, Celtic languages, History, and Literature. The course focuses on the common, overarching question of how Scottish society has interacted with the outside world. Using a number of case studies from different time periods, ranging from the ‘Viking’ era to the modern age, the course explores how connections to the outside world shaped Scotland’s distinctive history and culture.

This course will introduce you to the processes by which slavery and the slave trade in the British Empire were abolished. You will learn about the impact of the slave trade to Britain’s economy and the Empire, the work and successes of British abolition societies, the opposition to abolition, and the political efforts to abolish the slave trade and slavery. This course highlights the importance of New World slavery and enslaved labor to Glasgow’s tobacco lords and the city’s emergence as the “Second city of the empire”. It also examines how the people and profits of the slave trade changed the built landscape, industry, trade, and architecture across central Scotland.

This course in collaboration with the Glasgow School of ART (GSA), will allow you to immerse yourself in the picturesque West of Scotland landscape and Glasgow’s urban cityscape, where grit and glamour collide, and where beautiful architecture and green spaces sit alongside relics of an industrial past.

It will combine off site research and practical experience in the GSA’s Photography and Glass Workshops. You will gain skills in SLR photography, leading onto the design, planning, and making of a bespoke stained glass panel, referencing your printed images and research materials. You will be introduced to a range of glass techniques including cutting glass, glass painting, leading, copper foiling and soldering, and apply these to the creation of a glass panel.

This course is a stand-alone option but some of you may wish to combine it with another of our Summer School courses.

Adam Smith (1723-1790) is world famous as the father of economics, but there is much more to him than this. He is one of a handful of thinkers whose ideas can be said to shape the world we live in. Age and Ideas of Adam Smith gives you an opportunity to immerse yourself in Smith’s thought at the University where he studied and taught. As a student and then Professor at the University of Glasgow, Smith made major contributions to the flourishing of the ground-breaking movement that has become known as the Scottish Enlightenment. This Summer course aims to introduce you to the whole of Smith’s impressive body of work, ranging from moral philosophy and literary criticism, to economics and political science. You will have the opportunity to read and discuss Smith’s work with some of the leading world experts on his thinking.

The intensive series of lectures and discussions is complemented by trips to locations in Scotland with strong associations with Smith, including his birthplace Kirkcaldy and his final resting place in Edinburgh.

This course offers a focused analysis of the key movements, artists, and ideas in Western art from the 14th to the 19th century. We will address and discuss questions such as:

• How do you read a picture?
• Why does that sculpture look the way it does?
• How do artists make their works?

You will be introduced to the important debates and ideas, as well as the key fundamentals of art history as a discipline. You will enhance your understanding of art and art history, through formal and contextual analysis.