Fwiw, this approach really spoke to me; it reminded me of [i]The Scholomance[/i] (which is a fantastic series if you like your magic schools with a side of Lovecraftian horror):

[quote=@Gisk]One of my favorite descriptions of magic is in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susannah Clarke. It's deliberately vague, we rarely see a description of what magicians are actually doing to make magic happen. They talk a lot about formulas, and mention techniques by name without describing them. It makes for a fun, arcane "technobabble" that I personally really enjoy.[/quote]