Teaching and Learning > DISCOURSE

Philosophy in Post-92 Universities

Author: Mark Addis

Journal Title: Discourse

ISSN: 2040-3674

ISSN-L: 1741-4164

Volume: 10

Number: 2

Start page: 85

End page: 92

Return to vol. 10 no. 2 index page

Introduction

In general, philosophy is not thriving in post-92 universities, with several programmes having closed recently. The decline in provision raises the serious problem that those with lower A level grades will effectively be prevented from studying philosophy at university. This is damaging both for the general presence of the subject and equality of opportunity as there is clear evidence that the socio-economic circumstances of students can have a bearing on their A level grades. Philosophers in post-92 universities, especially those who are not part of a dedicated philosophy department, tend to face particular kinds of difficulties related to lack of critical mass. A short questionnaire (see appendix) was issued to obtain an overview of philosophy in the sector and eleven responses were received. Overall, the findings give clear cause for concern and point towards the need for the philosophical community as a whole to think about ways to support the post-92 sector.

Institutional position and orientation

There are two philosophy departments and a research centre which serves a departmental type function but all are small. In eight other cases philosophy is in a general humanities setting of some kind, frequently in a school of humanities and/or social science. In terms of whether the general orientation of philosophy was analytic or continental considerable variability was evident. Three respondents indicated a primarily analytic orientation and three a primarily continental one. A further three claimed an equal balance between both and another refused to recognise the question. It is clear that for a good proportion of the universities the analytic and continental divide remains contentious. For this reason it might be advisable to use the term 'modern European' or 'post-Kantian European' instead of 'continental'. Only one university saw philosophy in a global way and accorded major significance to non-western thought.

There is a good deal of diversity in teaching and research. However, universities were keen to emphasize that they covered core philosophical subjects. The primary areas cited by eight respondents were aesthetics, moral and political philosophy, and the history of philosophy. Areas noted by six respondents were continental philosophy, Kant, metaphysics, philosophy of mind and philosophy of science. Other fields which were mentioned included environmental philosophy, feminist philosophy, and phenomenology. One respondent remarked: 'I suspect—there's proportionately much more going on in new universities by way of inter-/multidisciplinary work and therefore by way of—broadly—applied philosophy than in older ones, where the bulk of "single hons" is concentrated'. It is evident there is notable variation from what might be thought to be the traditional analytic canon of many highly regarded departments. This largely reflects the kinds of courses which are (or are thought to be) appealing to students.

The average number of academics involved in philosophy teaching and research was only five (including those on temporary contracts). The largest philosophy grouping was a department with eleven staff. The potentially problematic implications of low staffing levels are obvious. Seven respondents reported that all philosophy staff were full-time whilst another two indicated almost all were. However, at one university less than 50% were and at another in the interdisciplinary humanities group it was just 25% (with the figure for the faculty as a whole being half that).

Undergraduates

Eight universities provide single and joint honours degrees whilst two others only offer the latter. One institution does not have undergraduate provision in philosophy. It is not always easy to calculate the numbers of undergraduate students on philosophy courses on a semester or term basis as those taking electives as well as single and joint honours students can be included. In the first year, philosophy student numbers ranged from 15 to 100 (with about half the universities being below 30). This is potentially troubling, but what is of additional concern is how they drop in the second and third years. For example, one respondent reported that figures of 80 fall to 30 for the last two years and in another case they go from 100 to 70 to 50 in the final year. In many universities 15 FTE is the viability threshold for courses/programmes and some of these figures are uncomfortably close to minimum levels of sustainability. Five respondents reported that numbers of undergraduates remained constant. One commented:

Undergraduate numbers overall have remained steady over the past 20 years; the proportion of students taking philosophical options has somewhat increased and we expect this trend to continue (we're optimists!). Part of the point of disaggregating the two undergrad degrees we had and making four out of them was to increase the range of applicants.

Two universities indicated a downward trend in undergraduate numbers whilst another observed that numbers were 'slightly lower than they should be for comfort'. However, more positively two respondents reported an increase in undergraduates and another remarked:

Trend is towards single honours, which directly conflicts with pressures to provide more general courses. Our numbers are slightly up this year, and we tend to get Combined Honours students switching to Single Honours during their first year.

There was a general awareness of the difficulty of increasing undergraduate recruitment.

Postgraduates and research students

Five universities offer philosophy at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Three universities have a single MA whilst two have three different ones. Numbers are low with three of the five respondents reporting numbers of 15 or less (with three in single figures). This clearly raises issues of long term viability. Three respondents indicated that numbers were stable and one noting they were rising. However, one university remarked that taught postgraduate numbers were far less than eight years ago.

Three universities had no research degree students in philosophy at all. In five universities offering full-time study of this kind numbers were low (with eleven being the maximum) and three of these had a single student. In eight universities part-time research student numbers ranged from two to twelve. Students researched a substantial range of different topics with the most popular areas being European philosophy, aesthetics, and moral and political philosophy. In terms of trends, three respondents reported research student numbers were stable with two others indicating a slow rise and a decline respectively. As with taught postgraduate courses this is a mixed and not particularly positive picture.

Respondents described typical university support for research students such as research methods courses, supervisory teams, and workshops/conferences. Of the six respondents only two indicated that support was sufficient. The others thought it was adequate (in one case barely so). A recurrent problem was the lack of a critical mass of research students and a philosophy research community. With the introduction of the AHRC Block Grant Partnership scheme opportunities for funded PhD research in the post-92 sector have declined further. Two respondents observed that due to the largely part-time character of research students in post-92 universities improving the situation would be hard. However, four respondents thought more co-operation with other universities would be beneficial. A respondent in the southeast commented: 'Certainly a regional grouping of some kind for doctoral training would be a help, on an informal level even more than in terms of specific training'.

Library and learning resources

For undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, with the odd exception, all the respondents used library textbooks, monographs, journals, electronic databases, student-owned textbooks, websites and online bibliographies. In one university library textbooks were not used and in three cases online bibliographies were not utilized. One respondent had to use monographs, journals and electronic databases at other institutions because the university did not have them.

Only four respondents thought library resources were wholly adequate. Two claimed they definitely were not and others had significant reservations about provision. One university reported that library coverage was adequate in terms of range but not quantity. Other problems were insufficient copies of core texts, outdated book stock, and an inadequate book purchasing budget. A lack of journals was a problem for at least three respondents. One university did not have access to Philosopher's Index. Six respondents denied that library resources affected the choice of courses offered. One cited the reason that they did not create new courses (which might well be thought to be unsatisfactory in itself) and another stated it was not a problem because students were referred to a major research library located nearby. Two others thought that library resources did not affect course choice but they certainly influenced the mode of delivery as ways of getting round the shortage of resources had to be found.

In terms of improving library resources three respondents stated that a large library budget was needed but none saw any way of obtaining this. In the current climate the under-funding of university libraries is set to become an increasing challenge. There was overwhelming interest in joining other post-92 universities in consortium agreements with philosophy journal publishers. Only one respondent indicated that it would matter whether the journals were highly rated (according to ERIH classifications). However, trying to develop such consortium agreements is difficult because about the half the universities surveyed already had licences for philosophy journal content and the same content could not be taken again under different terms.

Appendix: questionnaire

  1.  
    2. Indicate:
    1. where philosophy is situated at the institution
    2. whether the general orientation is analytic or continental
    3. the primary areas of focus in teaching and research
  2. State the number of academics involved in philosophy teaching and research and the percentage which are full time
  3. Title(s) and number of undergraduate and postgraduate course(s) on which philosophy is taught at the institution.
  4. Estimate of students taking such courses on a semester/term basis.
  5. Specify:
    1. the number of research degree students in philosophy including whether they are full or part time
    2. b) state the general area their studies fall into if possible
  6. Please comment on current trends in undergraduate, postgraduate, and research student numbers.
  7. State:
    1. the kinds of support provided for research students
    2. indicate whether the support is sufficient
    3. if not suggest what could be done to improve this (such as starting a regional network for doctoral training)
  8. Indicate which of the following are used for teaching (including graduate supervision) philosophy:
    • library textbooks
    • monographs
    • journals
    • electronic databases
    • student owned textbooks
    • websites
    • online bibliographies
  9. Indicate:
    1. whether library resources are adequate and if not in what respect(s)
    2. whether library resources affect the choices of courses offered and if so how
    3. what could be done to improve library resources
  10. Comment on whether there would be interest in joining other new universities in consortium agreements with philosophy journal publishers.

Return to vol. 10 no. 2 index page

This page was originally on the website of The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies. It was transfered here following the closure of the Subject Centre at the end of 2011.

 

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