University of Oxford UNIQ Summer Schools Philosophy, Politics & Economics Residential Course

PPE asks for nothing beyond UNIQ's general criteria, and you don't need to have studied any of the three subjects. UNIQ's four minimum criteria, covering your school, year of study, age and residency, are strict, though, and you have to meet all of them before anything else counts.

Past that point UNIQ looks at your grades in context and gives priority to students from backgrounds underrepresented at Oxford. It strongly prioritizes anyone who is or has been in care, takes into account current or past eligibility for free school meals, and may check your home postcode against the Index of Multiple Deprivation, a UK measure of neighborhood disadvantage. UNIQ checks what you tell it and may withdraw a place it can't verify. If something has held back your results, the application has an extenuating circumstances section for explaining it.

Around 60 students took the PPE course in 2026. If PPE is full, UNIQ may offer you your second choice instead, and if both are full, a place on its reserve list.

• School year

  Year 12 in England or Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland, S5 in Scotland or the first year of the IB Diploma, studying qualifications Oxford accepts.

• School

  A UK or Islands state school or college, including grammar schools, or home education. Independent and private schools are excluded even if you attend on a bursary.

• Residency

  Settled UK or Islands residency, or an expectation of home fee status when you apply to university. Overseas residents can't apply.

• Age

  Under 18 at the residential and normally 16 or 17, with narrow exceptions for Northern Ireland students and those in an offset year.

• Grades

  Normally at least six GCSEs with one or more at grade 7 or A, or six National 5s with at least one A.

• Other limits

  No more than one completed A level, and you can't have attended UNIQ before.

The teaching runs during the day from Tuesday to Thursday, with Monday for arriving and settling into your college and Friday for a mini-conference with everyone else on your week before you head home. In 2026 the PPE days ran from 28 to 30 July and, besides the lectures, included an admissions session, a tour of the Social Sciences Library and a visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Evenings mix support sessions with optional social activities, a chance to explore other colleges and plenty of time with current Oxford students. UNIQ warns that the week is very intensive and leaves little time for other work, so finish any school project due around then before you go.

PPE academics give the lectures, and the material is pitched at the level of a first-year Oxford undergraduate, with academic and graduate teaching staff plus undergraduate ambassadors on hand to help. UNIQ doesn't name the lecturers or say who leads the end-of-week tutorial.

Oxford's Department of Economics was among those supporting the course in 2026, when the six lectures covered topics such as Utilitarianism and Equality, Algorithms and Institutions, The Economics of Chocolate, and Homelessness. Lectures in earlier years have covered banking reform, the legitimacy of the law, the ethics of killing innocent civilians in war, and British elections.

Current Oxford undergraduates, called ambassadors, stay in college with you and take you to lectures and seminars, and each college is run for the week by a Site Manager, a senior ambassador who organizes drop-ins, tours and evening activities. UNIQ assigns your college and you find out which one when you arrive.

You get your own lockable bedroom. Some rooms are ensuite, but in the older buildings you may share a bathroom with a few other participants on a gender-segregated corridor. Every college offers a vegetarian option, while halal, kosher and other religious diets can't be guaranteed because each college runs its own catering, so tell UNIQ about your needs as soon as you're offered a place. The same goes for any disability or access needs, which you don't have to declare when you apply.

It gives you experience and support rather than an advantage. UNIQ says students who take part and later apply to Oxford get no preferential treatment, and that not being selected won't affect a future application either.

What carries on after the residential is support. From August to December UNIQ offers online guidance on making a competitive application, covering the UCAS application, admissions tests and interviews. That's useful timing, because the residential falls in the summer before you would apply.

Applications are made online only, through the UNIQ website.

1. 1

   Check that you meet every minimum criterion and that PPE's 2027 week, which UNIQ will publish by December, fits your summer, since you can't switch subjects once places are allocated.

2. 2

   Complete and submit the form between 15 December 2026 and 13:00 on 19 January 2027, choosing PPE and a second course and naming a teacher at your school.

3. 3

   Look for the application submitted screen, because UNIQ sends no confirmation email and unsubmitted applications are never considered.

4. 4

   Email UNIQ quickly about any mistakes, since you have only about three days after the deadline to make changes.

5. 5

   Watch for a decision by email by early March 2027 and accept any offer within one week.