An Interview with professor Anna Sapir Abulafia Part 4/5

‘Increasing Support for Postgraduates’

An Interview with Anna Sapir Abulafia

Director of Graduate Studies, Professor of the Study of Abrahamic Religions

by Olga Puzanova

Anna Sapir Abulafia, who took over as Director of Graduate Studies at the Faculty earlier this year, shares her thoughts about the Faculty and its diverse graduate programmes and explains how graduate students can make the most of the vibrant research community at the Faculty.

What do you see as the future of the graduate programme at the Faculty?

There is room for some growth, but what we are really working on is making it an even better experience for the graduates. For instance, the graduates are eager to do more teaching, so we now have the Graduate Teaching Training Scheme. As well as including the opportunity to participate in the Preparation for Teaching and Learning at Oxford (PLTO) course which is run across the University, participants in the training scheme have the opportunity to teach anyone of an agreed list of classes under the guidance of a Faculty mentor. We have currently earmarked more funding to set up more and even better programmes facilitating those graduates who are able to do more teaching or provide research assistance. This will expand their horizons and make them even more employable after graduation. We have also allocated more funding to expand language provision for graduates, e.g., Intermediate German for Theologians at the Language Centre. And we have set aside funds so that DPhils can apply to the Library to acquire essential texts for their research. I just hope graduates will make full use of what we are organising in response to graduates’ suggestions, as expressed in the Graduate Joint Consultative Committees (GJCC).