Mark Staarup
Student spotlight details
Mark Straarup attended OUSSA to broaden his business school experience, and to gain course credit for his undergraduate degree programme in Copenhagen.
'I am a student studying economics and philosophy as an undergrad at Copenhagen Business School. When I joined the Oxford University Summer School for Adults (OUSSA) in 2011, I had just finished the first year of my three year bachelor course.
'Prior to university I served five years in the Danish army as a Sergeant and infantry section commander. During my time in the army I did a seven month tour in the Helmand province of Afghanistan in 2009.
'I took three philosophy courses at OUSSA, Science Reason and God (Stephen Law), God and the Philosophers (Andrew Dalkin), and Greek Philosophy (Ray Billington). Each course was a different experience and style of philosophy, but they all shared a mutually high level of content and relevance.
'I found out about OUSSA online, and I joined for many reasons. As a student I was interested to experience and participate in courses taught in English, to experience the culture of the University and the city, to meet and study with people from different countries and backgrounds. Having earned study points whilst in the army, I was fortunate enough to have them sponsor the courses.
'I can apply for the course credit to become part of my degree at CBS, when I get to my 5th semester which consists of a number of elective courses. Apart from that the courses definitely strengthened my knowledge of philosophy, the course content was relevant to my future studies, and the tutorials gave further opportunity to focus on areas that were of most relevance to me in my own studies.
'Gaining a strong, broad understanding of the topics was what I found most engaging. I would smile leaving for the tea break after having thoroughly gone through 'the "fine-tuning argument" for intelligent design', 'Kant’s categorical imperative' or 'Plato’s theory of forms'. Having had a very practical job before, it was the feeling of gaining a strong knowledge of these topics that I found the most engaging.
'I have two years remaining at Copenhagen, which might lead to an additional two-year post grad degree, so it is hard to say at present what my future goals are - but working with new approaches to conventional business is something I am interested in.
'By spending time at OUSSA you get a lot: quality courses, a forum in which to meet new people, and a city full of culture and history. Also the pubs are amazing!!'
