An Arabic businessman in his thirties is offering a €146,700 a year job to anyone who can tutor him so that he can gain a place at the University of Oxford.
The successful applicant must ensure that the businessman is taught English (which he does not currently speak), jazz piano and an appreciation of Shakespeare. He must also receive enough formal schooling to enable him to pass GCSEs and A-Levels. The businessman is currently unsure as to which subject he would like to study at Oxford.
The advert, placed in the Times Education Supplement, recognises the businessman’s “hugely ambitious goal, which will take several years’ hard work”. It however suggests that a “highly intelligent, erudite, well read, musically accomplished, and both socially and culturally versatile” tutor should succeed in gaining him admission. Certainly the criteria for applicants are stringent and the job itself is no less daunting.
A successful applicant must be able to “ignite a passion for reading across the gamut of literature, including plays, poetry and all manner of novels. The client also wishes to learn to speak English so that his Arabic background is no longer evident”. Clearly recognizing the need for a cultural education to pad out his personal statement the advert stipulates that the tutor must draw up a “life-curriculum”. This will necessitate “planning a culturally rich range of musical and dramatic performance, visits to art galleries and museums, restaurants, sites of historical or contemporary interest”.
Despite being very specific on certain points (“should lead a healthy lifestyle and be in good physical shape”) the advert is strikingly vague on the matter of whether men can apply for the job. Despite never excluding them directly it talks only of the tutor using the pronoun “she”, implying that a man would be unsuitable.
A further area of contention within the article is the matter of the hours the successful applicant would need to work. “Typically the Tutor should expect to be available 8am-11pm, five days a week… Friday and Saturday evenings will be spent with their charge”. For time off the tutor will be entitled to two consecutive days off per week on average.
Student reactions to the advert have been largely cynical. A first year PPEist at Jesus commented, “The intentions of the advert are clearly not completely above board, essentially if he wants a middle-aged ‘retired head-teacher’ to live in his apartment having ensured she’s ‘in good shape’”.
A University of Oxford spokesman was keen to quash the suggestion that one can effectively buy a place at the university, stating, “There is no trick or secret to getting into Oxford University – selection is based purely on academic ability and potential.”
