The University of West of England Bristol (UWE) appears to have decided to cancel its successful BA Philosophy degree, without consultation and without any clear rationale. The programme, which is financially viable, popular with students, and scores very well in the NSS, is well known for promoting European philosophy. Its threatened closure is very mysterious…. Read the full article
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On Weds 17th June 2020, the British Philosophical Association and other subject associations wrote to UK government ministers calling for significant changes in the way that higher education is funded and supported. As UK higher education institutions reportedly fall in the global rankings, forty-nine professional associations representing diverse academic research fields and thousands of UK-based… Read the full article
The BPA wrote to Ohio University on the 13th May 2020 to protest against the University’s decision to not honour a number of contracts in the philosophy faculty. See a news item about it on Daily Nous here. The letter was sent to Professor Nellis, the University’s President, and also to its Board of Trustees…. Read the full article
The British Philosophical Association has today written to the Minister of State for Universities and the Secretary of State for Education to draw attention to the many important contributions made by philosophers at UK institutions during the pandemic so far. Professor Fiona Macpherson, President of the BPA, wrote to government ministers to describe many of… Read the full article
The BPA are delighted to learn that the number of examination entries for the philosophy A-Level are projected to rise again this year. AQA, the exam board offering the UK’s only A level in Philosophy, has started the process of recruiting new examiners for the 2020 summer series and beyond. Although some teaching experience… Read the full article
The BPA are proud to announce that Fiona Macpherson, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience at the University of Glasgow, has been appointed as the new President of the British Philosophical Association. She follows Professor Robert Stern who held the position from 2012 to 2018. As Professor… Read the full article
We all know that philosophical thinking is improved when we get people together to share their ideas and to listen to each other, it’s why we hold workshops, conferences, seminars and colloquia. But we also know that getting a lot of people to travel across countries or continents is damaging the environment. The BPA want… Read the full article
The UK Government’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills have appointed Lord Nicholas Stern to review the Research Excellence Framework. They issued a ’call for evidence’ in January 2016 (here), in order to (in their words) “explore some of the issues raised and investigate ways in which a simpler, lighter-touch, system for the REF might… Read the full article
The Hungarian Parliament are instigating legislation that would make it impossible for CEU to continue its present operations in Budapest (details are here). The BPA have sent a letter to the Hungarian Minister responsible for universities recommending that Parliament revise these plans. The letter was co-signed by 30 departments of philosophy from the UK and Ireland. Mr…. Read the full article
The BPA, the heads of philosophy departments, and many learned societies have today sent an open letter to St Mary’s University, Twickenham, urging them to retain their Philosophy programme. The BPA understand that the University’s management has been consulting about closing the Philosophy programme, a move which we think would run directly counter to the… Read the full article
