Oxford University

Part One:
I chose the Oxford University component.  This component creates a university in your culture.  Oxford University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the English speaking world.  Civilization IV describes the university as having thirty nine colleges and seven private halls.  It is heavily associated with religious organizations.  A large number of world leaders, including prime ministers, presidents, kings and Nobel Prize winners have attended Oxford.  The game's simulation of Oxford University is very accurate and detailed.  In the real world, England as looked at in a higher light because of this college.  This same effect occurred for me in my society.

Part Two:
In the game, Oxford University helped my culture to expand enormously.  I was referred to as "Roosevelt the Pathetic" at the beginning of the game.  Once I added Oxford University to my culture, my land and power grew a great deal.  As you can see from the graph below, my culture is greatly succeeding compared to the other cultures in the game. 

Once my culture began to expand greatly due to Oxford University, I was also able to succeed in other areas of the game as well.  Other leaders looked to cooperate with me, as well as try to trade or become a friend.  Oxford University gave me a lot of power in this game because not only did it allow my borders to expand, it allowed me to expand as a leader. 

Part Three: 
I found adding the Oxford University component to be very effective.  In comparison to adding the University versus adding a library or Rock and Roll, I found that the University helped my culture immensely.  I think this is because education is valued greatly.  Almost all cultures value education on the highest scale, and usually leaders of cultures are highly educated.  Intelligent leaders are better able to expand their cultures and borders through cultural imperialism.  This is exemplified in class during the movie The Tailenders.  The missionaries are very educated people.  They translate their preachings into several different languages and dialects.  In addition they use their wealth and influence to convert people's religions.  The missionaries would not be as successful at this process if they were not educated.  Therefore, this supports the effectiveness of adding Oxford to your culture during this game.  In order to expand and impose my culture on other cultures I needed to be educated.  The Oxford University application allowed my citizens and myself to be better educated.  .