I’m slowly getting the hang of the strange-to-me admissions process here in the UK. This morning, our campus — which had been still as a graveyard for most of the past four months — swarmed with eager young scholars who were sizing us up to determine whether they would cast their lot on studying Theology & Religious Studies at Glasgow, plus a few students interested in other topics (for some reason). They came to a talk in our ground-floor classroom, and took away brochures about our department subject area in a big Expo of fields of study in a vast open room in the Main Building.
We did pretty well in the Expo; I was teamed up with Madhavi Nevader, and we enjoyed the huckstering for our subject, magnifying the personal and career benefits of an undergraduate degree in Theology (or Religious Studies). I got to ask them about their “highers” and “A-levels” as though I were thoroughly conversant with what I was talking about. The prospective students seemed to appreciate our ebullience, and we signed up more people during our two-hour stint than did the other T&RS teams in the whole rest of the day. Pwned!
I hope there young characters get their applications in early enough that they don’t get caught up in next year’s enrolment crunch — and that they all want to study the Bible with my cool colleagues and me.
Speaking of which, all that stuff I said about getting a postgraduate degree at Glasgow still holds true, and I would still like a student or two to come on up to the lovely shores of the scenic River Clyde to work with me for toward a PhD. Lots of fun to be had, a beautiful country in which to work, a great staff with whom to work, and I promise not to mislead you if you ask me not to.
Plus: We’d be interested to hear if there’s someone working in an undergrad program in the States who would like to start up a study-abroad program to bring a dozen or two students over to learn about the Scottish Reformation (for instance) here in Glasgow. It would seem like a natural for US Presbyterian colleges, but if there’s interest Stateside, this is something we could begin to explore formalising on the Scottish side, too.
AKMA,
My new position is at a historically Presbyterian college (now university) that has a January term program (the first 3 weeks of January). Many J-term classes travel abroad, so I’d love to explore this possibility with you. I don’t know if that specific time would work for you and your colleagues, but perhaps we could talk.
I’ve placed my email address above.
That is, my new email address.
Akma, not surprised ‘your watch’ at the Open Day was so successful 🙂