New Degrees from the University of London External Programme

[fawcettbj]

As this is now live on our website, can I draw your attention to:

MA Open, Distance and Flexible Learning

MSc Information Security

MA United States Studies

All of these degrees have full tutor support.

Many Thanks,

Brendan Fawcett
Promotions Manager
University of London External Programme

[uncle janko]

The double DL MA looks intriguing. Cost is the only drawback I can see. The program looks flexible and imaginative, and the London cachet will be appealing to many.

[telefax]

Brendan,

Thanks for posting the information on the new programs. I noticed that the University is discontinuing the BA in Jewish History. Why?

[fawcettbj]

In short, as I understand it, there was insufficient student interest that made the qualification too expensive to maintain.

Regards,

Brendan

[rdl50]

could you please tell me about your llb program?

[fawcettbj]

Dear rdl50,

Please could I refer you to the relevant page of our website.

If this does not answer all of your questions please email our information office directly (enquiries@external.lon.ac.uk).

The most important point to note is that this is one of our traditional printed material courses. This means while it is cheap (approx 4,000 Euros) in university fees, it is not supported by tutors from the university at all. However, several external third parties provide tutorial support for this degree.

Assessment is by pure examination. Examinations are taken in one of 650 centres around the world. In the Netherlands the British Council office in Amsterdam administer the examinations.

I hope that this helps,

Brendan

[Tom Head]

Regarding the BA in Jewish history: I'm sorry to see it go, as I remember looking it over and thinking of it as an excellent program, one that I wouldn't mind doing myself some day. Any chance they might revive the program as a master's? I suspect the degree level may be the reason for low enrollment--with it being at the Honours level, it wouldn't really meet the needs of U.S. and Israeli religious educators, who probably make up the majority of its potential target audience. If London were to offer a master's-level Jewish studies program of some kind, it would be in the running against the highly successful low-residency programs offered by JTSA and Hebrew College and the optional-residency program offered by Spertus, all of which are substantially more expensive than London.

If you have a moment, there's one question that's been nagging at me for years: Do you know if the external Bachelor of Divinity is designed to meet ordination requirements of the Church of England or any other denomination, or has been used in this capacity with predictable success? I have not ruled out the possibility of seeking ordination of some kind at some point down the road, and given my history with distance learning in general and examinations in particular, and the program's non-denominational requirements, I suspect this would be the most effective option for me.

Thank you for your time!


Cheers,

[fawcettbj]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the post. I'll try and address the points that you've made but future posters please see the caveat after my signature.

In terms of the ordination requirements of the Church of England (CoE) and the other major Christian faiths, its a complicated issue.

Not having a degree is not necessarily a barrier - for the CoE please see:

Called to the professional ministry from the CoE website or for a more simplified version please see the CoE Lincoln diocease version of the same page.

In general I would advise that you would need to speak to an adviser in vocations in the denomination of your choice regarding ordination.

However, the University of London BD is, to quote the prospectus, "one of the oldest and most highly respected in the world. It has a long history and some of the major Christian figures around the world have been graduates of London."

On a personal level I know of several who have chosen the religious life who are current students. I have been in correspondence with a Cistercian Monk at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey here in the UK. A colleague of mine also told me about a recent exhibition she attended in Athens where she met another current student (a Greek Orthodox priest in full regalia).

I've also included a quote from another student in Northern Ireland, I have a similar quote from a Lutheran deacon who is now working as a missionary.

"Having now been accepted as a candidate for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland ministry, I feel the London BD has prepared me well for the work I intend to pursue. The discipline in working out my own answers, first of all for examination purposes, but then and more importantly for myself, has been invaluable."

Out of interest I did a quick search on our database of name titles of past and current students on the BD programme - the breakdown is:
Approx 4.5% of students already had religious name titles (Revd, Sr, Mgr, Rt. Revd etc)
Approx 3% of students had academic name titles (Dr, Prof etc)
Approx 0.1% of students had military tiles (Capt, Major etc)
The rest are non specific Mr and Mrs, Ms etc....

I think in general terms, the conclusion would be that the University of London BD will certainly not "hurt" your chances of ordination in any of the major Christian faiths, however it may actually be unnecessary - although you may wish to pursue such a course for your own interest.

Cheers,

Brendan


P.S. BA Jewish History

I don't know of any plans to revive the course, or any plans for a course in this subject at the Masters level. However we do have a rolling programme of course development and re-development - so please remember to check our . website from time to time.


Caveat for future posters - I will try and address any issues about our programmes (where possible*). However I would recommend that in the first instance you should search our website for the answer to your question and if you cannot find the information that you are looking for you should email enquiries@external.ac.uk.

* I travel a lot with my work and I often have poor or non-existant internet connectivity, therefore whilst I try to keep up to date with issues from this board there may be times when I am out of contact with this board for several weeks at a time.

[Tom Head]

Thanks for this, Brendan--I appreciate it!


Cheers,