6 minute read
A College in transition
Gordon Campbell
highlights recent and coming changes at Union College.
In our schools, colleges and universities, the ongoing pandemic has transformed the educational experience for learners and teachers alike – and the same goes for Union College. Yet well before social distancing or lockdown had an impact on our students, Union was already experiencing major change.
In the UK generally, theology has been under pressure for some time, with providers closing and options for study reducing. Union, too, has been shrinking since 2018, as our collaboration with Queen’s University (QUB) winds down. Yet simultaneously, under the College’s 1881 Royal Charter, Union’s reach has been extending in exciting new ways. Faculty have been designing, developing and delivering a suite of postgraduate courses, which have been recruiting well; and by next year, Union should also be welcoming new undergraduate students once again.
College life in a pandemic
Right now, though, College is a largely empty building with a skeleton staff. On each floor of the Gibson Chambers (our upstairs accommodation), resident students form a bubble; however, in the downstairs student common room, no day students are chilling, chatting or playing pool. Gone is the daily hubbub from the dining room, replaced by a weekly virtual morning coffee and catchup, via MS Teams. Instead of singing, praying or reading Scripture together in the chapel, we have brief online worship.
By March last year, most teaching was already online as theology students experienced the same digital learning and take-home assessments as other QUB students. For a while, ministry students had some in-person classes – for instance, biblical languages best acquired and practised in hands-on, face-toface conditions. However, by January 2021, even two-week intensive sessions in Hebrew or Greek involved remote learning, and students were positive about the experience.
While faculty and students alike are used to working from home, there are obvious disadvantages. Nothing beats live in-person interaction between real people in physical classrooms, especially for group work. The high-quality engagement of on-campus tutorials, seminars or one-to-one supervision is hard to match remotely. Most library resources are for exploiting physically, book or journal in hand. Key formative experiences also happen in collective elements of College life or through impromptu chats and banter between classes, in corridors or on the stairs. And the social aspect is irreplaceable.
Online learning
Yet for our postgraduate courses, remote learning is the norm, with almost half our current students enrolled on them. Flexibility and adaptability are the big strengths of online courses. Many students choose part-time study, combining this fruitfully with active
ministry or other work. Through the College’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) they access resources such as eBooks, scans of book excerpts, online journals, audio and especially video materials – by faculty and by other practitioners – and so on. Modules make use of sophisticated adaptive learning technology called Cerego, in which artificial intelligence and machine learning harness insights from neuroscience and cognitive science, helping students up their game and retain their learning for longer.
With quality study materials for these postgraduate courses accessible from anywhere in the world, in the last two years they have already attracted students from all four UK nations as well as Germany, Kenya, Namibia and the USA. Union’s readiness for and commitment to online provision have enriched QUB students’ learning. They also impact on ministerial training. For a ministry student with a family, working online and from home can have its advantages: instead of maybe three hours in the car or public transport, to and from College, there is more study time, some reduction in tiredness or stress and greater flexibility for sharing the burden of childcare or home-learning support.
Ministry pathways and undergraduate degrees
The closure to new applicants, in 2018, of the QUB Bachelor of Divinity degree course meant that Union needed to develop new academic awards, most urgently a replacement academic pathway for suitably qualified ministry students. The result, beginning in 2019, was a new part-time Master of Divinity (MDiv) award, with half of our current 22 ministry students studying for it. Teaching and learning currently takes place online and will resume on-campus as soon as feasible. We hope the MDiv will soon attract non-ministerial and non-PCI students also.
In recent times, ministerial training has also become concentrated around a range of competencies deemed essential for ministry – with some ministry students acquiring and demonstrating these entirely through non-award courses, while those on the MDiv pathway meet the requirements through academically enhanced modules that dovetail with them. For all ministry students, the primary goal is readiness to be licensed for ministry rather than achieving an academic award.
For many years, Union was franchised to teach theology for QUB and around 30 students remain to finish their studies. Despite Union’s long-term experience in teaching undergraduate degrees, our Royal Charter does not permit us to award them. Soon, the College hopes to work with a new awarding partner – St Mary’s University, Twickenham, through its Institute of Theology and Liberal Arts – and, by this spring, to complete all preparatory steps for a new Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Theology. We could then begin engaging with schools to recruit new undergraduate students for BA studies starting in September 2022.
Further online study options
In addition to the MDiv, ministry students can enhance their knowledge in other ways, while serving ministers have options for returning to study part-time. One ministry student is completing a Master of Research (QUB). For those with an undergraduate degree in theology already, the College’s online Master of Theology (MTh) enables students to specialise in Reformed Theology or New Testament, with Old Testament in preparation. Two students and two ministers have so far enrolled. Graduates wishing to branch into theology from another subject area can take the more general Master of Arts (MA) in Theology, focusing on systematic theology, as can Christian leaders seeking further development, or active Christians thinking about ministry. Finally, Union offers a Postgraduate Certificate in Biblical Greek.
Moving forward
The focus of Union’s mission is students and we think ours are terrific. Whatever their particular study pathway – ministerial or theological – they deserve the best education that faculty, adjunct faculty and support staff can provide, working closely with one another and with the students. For our small but committed staff team, overload is an issue and several key personnel changes, including retirements, have added to the challenge of managing and delivering successfully everything I have described.
However, our Church is enthusiastically committed to its College, understanding how Union is navigating major change and needing to make ready for opportunities to consolidate and develop the College’s ministry. Keeping pace will involve recruiting and resourcing additional qualified and talented staff, for both academic and support roles, and already a new head of academic administration and operations manager have joined the team in recent months.
In this time of transition, and amid the current health emergency, we would appreciate the prayers of the wider church for students and staff. Please also spread the word: encourage young people and others to apply for our courses, this year or next. And once in-person activities are restored, why not check out ‘Theology For All’ – short courses whereby Church members can benefit from what the College has to offer.
Prof Gordon Campbell is principal of Union Theological College.
Courses currently offered at Union
Online courses
MA in Theology MTh in New Testament MTh in Reformed Theology PG Certificate in Biblical Greek
Residential courses
Master of Divinity PhD Theology (also available remotely)
For more information on any of these courses please go to www.union.ac.uk
