Lectures are open to the University public. Normally, a member of the teaching staff presents a series of eight weekly lectures grouped around a topic of relevance to one of the course options, e.g. 'The Politics of the Middle East' or 'The Economic History of the Middle East in the Nineteenth Century'. They tend not to be interactive, though some lecturers invite questions at the end of their presentation. Attendance is optional, and there are no required readings or assignments. However, students are strongly encouraged to attend all of the lectures in a series to broaden their general knowledge of the subject.
Seminars take two forms.
Some are closer to classes, in the sense of being an interactive group with required attendance and assignments, such as the M.Phil. Others are closer to lectures, in the sense of being open to the public and organised around a theme. The Middle East Centre hosts a weekly seminar on a topic of general interest each term. What both forms share in common is that they are organised by a convenor and tend to bring a different speaker each week. Each student is assigned a University Supervisor before coming up to Oxford.