Prospects for summer jobs in Oxford in 2022

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has dealt confidence in overseas travel another huge blow. But it’s not all doom and gloom, and there are reasons to be really optimistic about summer jobs in Oxford in 2022.

It all used to be so straightforward…

As predictable as the seasons was the corresponding cycle of busy-ness in the fantastic city of Oxford. As the days got longer, the weather got warmer and schools around the world entered their summer vacations, so the number of visitors to Oxford would grow and grow.

And then, in what felt like the blink of an eye, everything changed.

Oxford’s summer schools, which account for a sizeable proportion of the city’s overseas visitors, are wonderful as they bring people from around the world together to experience a city and university that has been teaching for almost 1000 years.

Suddenly, doing that became (at different times) impossible, unsafe and even illegal.

2020: shutdown

With the original strain of COVID-19 taking hold in spring 2020, UK Government restrictions obliged all residential summer schools to close in July and August of that year. With that most difficult of summers behind them, and the prospects of vaccines on the horizon, the leading Oxford summer employers were planning on a return to normal for 2021. But…

2021: muddling through

In summer 2021, although operations were no longer illegal, concerns over the Delta variant (Oxford’s cases increased by 1000 per cent in the last week of June) deterred many, and some of the strictest border controls in the world meant that many parents were understandably reluctant to send their children to the UK when a stay of up to 11 nights in quarantine would have been required.

2022: the big comeback?

Oxford’s biggest summer schools were gearing up for 2022 to be the big comeback – the year in which all of that pent-up demand from the previous two years would be released and visitors could and would come back to Oxford in their swathes.

And then the news about Omicron came, and along with the rest of the travel industry (and the rest of the country!) came that feeling of ‘here we go again’.

However, there are reasons to be optimistic about the Oxford’s international summer schools in 2022 – and with that, to feel that the Oxford summer jobs market will have plenty to offer. Here are our top five.

1. People are desperate to travel

We mentioned the pent-up demand above – and that’s very much still there. Every summer prior to 2020, thousands of young students would travel from all corners of the globe to be in Oxford. And only a tiny proportion of those who wanted to do so have managed to over the past two years.

COVID-19 is going to be with us for a long time – perhaps forever. And, as more and more people around the world learn to live in a world with COVID, they are adapting their plans to do the things that they want and need to do.

This does not mean they are adopting a cavalier attitude to their own safety – but rather, they are looking at ways to travel and organisations who can protect them and their money from the uncertainty and risk posed by COVID. If they can find an Oxford summer school that will make it easy for them, customers and students will enrol, and they will travel.

We saw shades of this in 2021 – those students who see an Oxford summer school as a key part of their trajectory towards a top university were willing to come and do the 11 days’ quarantine (shortened to 5 with Test to Release).

And we fully expect this trend to continue. Although it’s unlikely Oxford will see the number of international educational tourists it saw in 2019 for a number of years yet, even at 50 per cent of 2019’s market size there would be a number of large summer schools operating – and this is good news for the Oxford summer jobs market.

2. The Oxford summer schools are keeping calm and carrying on…

After the initial alarm, the leading Oxford summer schools have adapted, adjusted and possibly reset their expectations – but there’s no sign of any longer term panic. They are still posting as usual on social media, their email marketing is still going out, they are bidding on advertising and, importantly, they still have job adverts out for some of their longer fixed-term roles.

After all, they’ve been here before – 2021 started with the country in tiers, followed by lockdown in the UK. Although a lockdown could follow, it feels like there is enough time to pass between now and the summer for the country to get on top of the Omicron wave and emerge on the other side. And with that confidence of what the ‘other side’ looks like, there are no alarm bells ringing for the key summer schools right now.

3. Travelling to the UK is easier today than in summer 2021

The main objection that overseas parents had to sending their children to Oxford in 2021 was, surprisingly, not related to fears of the virus itself.

Instead, it was the quarantine requirements for their children. Understandably, the prospect of a teenager spending 11 nights in a quarantine hotel or homestay was not one that filled many international parents with joy.

However, as at today, an under-18 arriving from overseas faces considerably lower barriers to getting in to the UK.

They must get a PCR test on or before Day 2 after arrival, and isolate until they get their negative result. Although frustrating (especially considering Omicron is now dominant in the UK), it is much more palatable than the rules in place last summer.

More lenient arrival requirements, coupled with the pent-up demand for travel, will give a strong boost to the numbers of students prepared to travel to the UK and Oxford this summer.

[Edited 29th December to reflect accurate travel requirements]

4. UK students are thinking more locally (and the Oxford summer schools are trying harder to find them)

COVID-19 hasn’t just suppressed the inbound international travel market – it’s had a huge impact on the outbound opportunities available to students based in the UK.

Organised school and team trips (rugby tours, cricket tours, overseas orchestra tours) have all been cancelled amid fears over the virus and the logistical effort and additional cost now required to put something together.

This means that these students are now looking closer to home for other options to broaden their horizons – and the Oxford Summer Schools are now competing hard for this new slice of the market. Some have gone so far as to introduce a Domestic and International fee structure in order to make attending an Oxford Summer School more attractive for UK-based students for whom the immersion in UK culture has far less importance.

An increased number of enrolments from students already in the UK would certainly contribute to a more optimistic picture for the leading Oxford summer schools.

5. Vaccinations and boosters

In the UK, the booster jab is seen as the main way to tackle the Omicron variant. Progress on the booster rollout is going well, and at the time of writing more than 30,000,000 people in the UK have had their booster.

Vaccination and booster rates in the key markets for Oxford summer schools – the EU, the USA and Hong Kong – and amongst the general customer base, are also high. As individuals, customers do seem prepared to get vaccinated and get boosted if it means they can resume doing the things they love.

In summary

Much remains uncertain about how the Omicron variant will impact 2022, and how that will run into the summer. It seems certain that there will be some impact on the size of demand for Oxford summer schools. However, with vaccinations and boosters going well, and the world learning to live with (and manage) the risk posed by COVID-19 whilst also doing the things they want to do, we predict that the leading Oxford summer schools will still see strong demand in summer 2022.

And they’ll need good people. Like you!

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