London School of Theology has moved Universities

Greetings Forum,

I see that London School of Theology has moved from Brunel-validated degrees to Middlesex.

Is this a good thing? Any opinions?

Chris

 

A few years ago, Henley moved away from half a century of such a relationship with Brunel, but instead of finding another school, they got their own Royal Charter.

What could the reasons be for LST?

1. Brunel doesn't do this sort of thing any more.
2. Brunel asked them to move.
3. Middlesex made a better offer.

I look forward to learning which, and why.

 

Links, please... to articles, announcements, web sites of all involved institutions... etc.!

 

"What could the reasons be for LST?

1. Brunel doesn't do this sort of thing any more.
2. Brunel asked them to move.
3. Middlesex made a better offer."


or,

4. Middlesex has a better reputation and is still geographically close enough to be practical

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

Just a guess: this might have something to do with the fact that Brunel itself has no theology or religion division. Thus, in validating LST degrees, they are providing validation for a field in which they essentially have no expertise. Middlesex has a religion department, though not a particularly highly regarded one, and already has a validating relationship with at least one other theological college in the London metro area (Oak Hill Theological College, which is located on the north edge of London).

The institution through which I did my master's work, Spurgeon's College, is validated by the University of Wales. Almost all of the campuses of the University of Wales, which is a federated university, have theology/religion departments. Thus, they have well established patterns, practices, and standards for assessing work in the theological disciplines. They also have rich resources to draw upon in providing external examiners for their validated theological colleges (of which there are quite a number).

I don't know if this has anything to do with the LST situation.

 

Middlesex has a religion department? News to me.

Here's their programs (oops... programmes):

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/subjects/

The only religion offering that I could find was an undergraduate minor offered by their combined philosophy/history department.

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/subjects/ph/undergraduate.htm

They do offer a philosophy Ph.D.. I remember Middlesex publishing some stuff in the philosophy of science back in the 80's when they were still a polytechnic. (It's one of the 1991 "new universities".)

But times change and these days Middlesex seems to specialize entirely in post-Kantian "Continental" philosophy. Here's what they say:

Philosophy research focuses on the post-Kantian tradition, Romanticism, Hegel and post-Hegelian philosophical currents and French and German phenomenology. There is also strong interest in aesthetics and art theory.

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/subjects/ph/research.htm

This did catch my eye:

Research options

Full and part-time MPhil and PhD

MProf and DProf – your work is the basis for your academic enquiry (see page 210 for further details)

PhD by Published Works for experienced researchers with an existing body of academic work

Middlesex offers a Ph.D. by published works, which kind of surprises me. And a "DProf" in philosophy?? Certainly never heard of that before.

I'd guess that philosophy at Middlesex overlaps quite a bit with their abundant (and to me rather appalling) cultural studies offerings:

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/subjects/mcc/research.htm

I think that's a little different. To pick just one, Wales' familiar Lampeter branch (lots of DL program(me)s) started out as a theological school in the 19'th century and has subsequently become a little rural university campus with real strength in all kinds of religion and religious studies.

But Middlesex philosophy (their religion seems virtually nonexistent) seems to be weighted towards the trendy "post-modern" stuff these days. I'm not impressed.

 

I scathe in your footsteps, perspicacious Bill. Wotta lotta rot!

 

Bill,

This was news to me. I was operating merely on my memory of info encountered several years back. At one time, Middlesex had considerably more extensive offerings in the area of religion/theology, including, if I’m not mistaken, at least one master’s level program. However, according to one website (http://www.uca.bham.ac.uk/implicit.html), the Religious Studies program at Middlesex University experienced cut-backs in 2001. In all honesty, my last visit to their website was probably in 1999 or so.

That being said, I found the following excerpt from the Middlesex website informative:
“Middlesex University has a long-standing tradition of academic distinction in the area of Religious Studies. This has favoured, over the years, the development of links with a number of collaborative partner institutions. Today Middlesex validates bachelor’s and master’s programmes of several denominational colleges in the areas of Christian and Islamic studies.”

In surveying the Middlesex website, I discovered that, in addition to Oak Hills, Middlesex also validates courses offered by the Missionary Institute of London.

Sorry to have offered an opinion based in outdated information.

 

A little more searching on the internet revealed that, prior to the changes at Middlesex, their offerings in the area of religion were organized under what was called the "School of Philosophy and Religious Studies," a name which implies a considerably more prominent role for this field within the university's structure than is presently the case.