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Church universities and colleges to consider their distinctive role amidst 'crisis of values'

27 May 2009

Landmark conference marks launch of Anglican college and university network

Academics and chaplains from across UK colleges and universities with an Anglican foundation will gather in London today (Wednesday 27 May) to consider how their institutions can help society respond to the economic downturn, and how they can sustain a vision for the role of higher education that extends deeper than a marketplace of ‘degree factories’.

Delegates will hear complementary keynote addresses from the Revd Professor Richard Burridge, Dean of King’s College London, and the Revd Dr Jeremy Law, Dean of Chapel at Canterbury Christ Church University, who will explore the challenges posed by the “crisis in economic values” facing the higher education sector and the wider world. These two leading figures in church education will reflect on the deeper implications of introducing market economics to the sector, asking what happens to the fundamental concept of a university when students are turned into ‘purchasers of student experience’ and ‘student satisfaction’ becomes a primary objective of education.

Eight other academics working in church institutions will present papers, considering how colleges and universities might respond internally to contemporary pressures of the sector in a distinctively Christian way, and how they can conduct research and teaching that equips society for the current period of economic uncertainty. The conference rapporteur will be Professor Ron Barnett, Professor of Higher Education at the Institute of Education, where the event is being held.

The day marks the inaugural conference of the UK Chapter of the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion (CUAC), a global network of church-linked further and higher education institutions which aims to enhance intercultural understanding through visits and exchanges, examine issues of values within the context of church-related higher education through meetings and conferences, and explore the potential within the Anglican Communion to serve God and the world in practical ways.

Professor Muriel Robinson, Chair of the UK Chapter and Principal of Bishop Grosseteste University College in Lincoln, comments: “Through CUAC we're plugged in to an international grid for sharing the insights of research, teaching and learning in a way that not only has local application in our own institutions but could also make a difference to disadvantaged and developing countries elsewhere in the world.”

Further information about the UK Chapter can be found on the Church of England website, while information on CUAC can be found at www.cuac.org.

 

The Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion (CUAC) is a world wide association of over 120 institutions of higher education that were founded by and retain ties to a branch of the Anglican Communion. Along with its predecessor, Association of Episcopal Colleges (AEC) that consists mostly of the Episcopal colleges in the US, CUAC is committed to promoting cross-cultural contacts and educational programs. With institutions on all five continents, CUAC was founded for the exchange of ideas, for the development of programs among member institutions, and for mutual support that they might better serve our students, our societies, and the world. As a global network of Colleges and Universities the network strives to assist their faculty and students to become better global citizens of a diverse world.