[Bups-l] Open University to scrap one-third of its undergraduate philosophy courses

[Edward Grefenstette]

The following message was sent to BUPS, with a request to have it  
forwarded to BUPS-L readers, by some Open University students. As the  
purpose of BUPS is, in part, to serve as a platform for aspiring- 
philosophers to get in touch with other aspiring-philosophers, as  
well as promoting the study of philosophy across the UK, we are  
particularly willing to forward the following message to you. Whether  
you are a Open University philosophy student, know one, or simply  
believe that it is beneficial to give a philosophical anchor point  
those who, for professional or personal reasons, have chosen not to  
attend traditional universities, we hope that you will be concerned  
by the decline of philosophical education in this medium, which could  
well be mirrored in other universities in the future.

Edward Grefenstette
Chair, BUPS
pp the BUPS committee

=====

The Open University, which obtained top marks for its philosophy  
teaching
from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (Subject Review
Report Q399/2001), has hitherto provided three undergraduate philosophy
courses worth 60 credit points each, one at level 2 and two at level 3
(the latter two being the equivalent of a final year of full-time  
study),
plus a residential school worth 10 credit points, thus allowing OU
undergraduates to gain up to 190 credit points, or just over 50 % of  
a BA
honours degree, from studying philosophy.

It has now been decided by the Faculty of Arts of the Open University -
overriding the wishes of the Department of Philosophy - to  
discontinue one
of the level-3 courses (AA311 'Reading political philosophy') without
replacement. For current students, this means that those who had been
planning to study political philosophy at undergraduate level will now
have to rearrange their plans and study more courses in other  
subjects to
obtain their qualification. The suddenness of the decision to  
discontinue
AA311 has left them with no opportunity to register for the course while
it was still being offered.

For future students, it means the provision of undergraduate philosophy
courses by the OU is now reduced to a mere 130 credit points, scarcely
more than one-third of a BA honours degree. The Open University thus
ceases to be a viable option for prospective students who want to  
obtain a
predominantly philosophy-based first degree.

The decision to scrap the political philosophy course is all the more
incomprehensible as it had hitherto been presented alternately with the
other level-3 course, which will now be presented annually instead,  
so the
amount of tuition the Faculty needs to provide remains unchanged.
Students, on the other hand, will lose out both in terms of course  
choice
and in the amount of total credit towards an Open University BA that can
be gained from studying philosophy. Furthermore, the OU only recently
introduced a named BA degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, so
seems particularly absurd now to be scrapping the only undergraduate
course fully devoted to political philosophy.

While it may be too late to reverse the decision to discontinue the  
course
(which was taken without consultation of the student body), it will  
still
be useful if students concerned by this decision make their views known.
Please join the protest and write to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts:

Prof. Richard Allen
Dean, Faculty of Arts
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
E-mail arts-dean at open.ac.uk