The History of Oxbridge Summer Camps
2009 will see the 11th year of Oxbridge Summer Camps in China, the first one having taken place in the summer of 1999. Back then, two Oxford undergraduates decided it would be worthwhile to run English camps in China for the purpose of educational and cultural exchange. The father of one of them, a businessman based in China, liked the idea. He decided he would pay for the flight tickets of the Oxbridge volunteers and then charge the students attending the camp, so as to make a profit. Thus OSEC was born.
OSEC operated summer camps from 1999 to 2004. By that point, the UK volunteers had grown in both number and organisation, and decided to gain independence from the Chinese side of OSEC. To do this, they set up a charity called OCEP. At the same time, the Chinese side of OSEC decided to continue operating summer camps under the new name of ISEC.
In 2005 and 2006 OCEP operated commercial camps to raise funds for charity. OCEP also operated free camps, which were funded by the profits from the commercial camps as well as from donations from other bodies. As well as these two types of camps, OCEP operated not-for-profit camps. In 2007 OCEP split into two organisations: OSCA and OCEP. This took the total number of organisations involved in operating summer camps in Asia to the three that exist today:
OSCA: operates not-for profit summer camps. OSCA was founded with the express aim of always running non-profit summer camps, meaning that students can be charged either nothing or the minimum amount necessary to cover costs so that the maximum number can benefit. Camps run for underprivileged students who don’t pay anything for attending the project are only possible thanks to generous donations from JCRs and other bodies.
OCEP organises commercial camps to raise funds for charity and other free camps.
ISEC organises Summer camps with a focus on Christian mission, recruiting volunteers from both the UK and the United States.