Background New College of the Humanities

1 background

1.1 history
1.2 funding , governance
1.3 first cohort

background
history

a. c. grayling, professor of philosophy @ birkbeck college until june 2011, secured nch s funding.

the college models on liberal arts colleges in united states, such amherst college. initial reports said aimed offer education rival of oxford , cambridge, grayling said had been blown out of proportion press hyperbole. said had idea college years ago when admissions tutor oxbridge college, , turning down 12 applicants every successful one. grayling himself completed first degree in philosophy in 1970s university of london external student. argues there not enough elite university provision in uk, leading thousands of british students study in united states instead. told independent headmaster of winchester college, independent secondary school, had said many of best students failed oxbridge because of government pressure increase number of students state schools. grayling has criticised english state examinations, arguing a-levels not measure ability adequately.

grayling said david willetts, universities minister, told of project in 2010, , appeared enthusiastic. nch limited first named grayling hall limited (after ac grayling , peter hall), incorporated in july 2010 , registered @ address in peckham, south london. name changed new college of humanities in february 2011. warden of new college, oxford, asked grayling change name again prevent confusion oxford college, said other names grayling had considered bloomsbury college , erasmus college.

from september 2012 september 2015 offered tuition in economics, english, history, law , philosophy , politics , international relations undergraduate degrees university of london international programme. runs own degree programmes, modelled on american liberal arts college courses students study major , minor subject, validated southampton solent university. continues offer law degree through university of london. in addition, requires undergraduate students work towards diploma of new college of humanities completing courses drawn applied ethics, critical reasoning, science literacy , launch, professional development programme.

in 2016 nch announced offering first postgraduate qualification, historical research , public history ma starting in september 2016. masters programme has been designed dr suzannah lipscomb, head of faculty , senior lecturer in modern history. validated swansea university. in 2017 college launched 3 additional master s degrees, ma economic policy & communication, msc global politics, , ma philosophy.

the college uses own building, registry, , of university of london s teaching , student facilities, including senate house library , institute of advanced legal studies, in bloomsbury district of london.

the college s foundation attracted substantial response in uk, , significant amount of adverse publicity, higher education institutions publicly funded. london s mayor, boris johnson, welcomed bold experiment, while times argued higher education has been closed shop in uk long. there angry reaction sections of academic community. complaints included nch had copied course descriptions of university of london s international programmes on website; offering same syllabus higher price tag; , senior academics involved project in fact little of teaching.

academics , administrators within british academic world have in recent years alluded college s for-profit agenda, highlight college s high tuition fees, corporate structure limited company, , membership of college s board.

funding , governance

initial seed capital of £200,000 project provided, according british newspaper guardian, financier peter hall.

£10 million in private equity funding subsequently raised cover costs 2 years, expectation nch break third. 1 third of enterprise owned 14 senior academics, including grayling, , rest private investors, including couple switzerland , 3 british businessmen—jeremy gibbs, matthew batstone , roy w. brown. cavendish corporate finance llp corporate financiers hired nch ltd , raised £10 million range of private investors including number of prominent individuals world of business , finance.

gibbs, former chairman of futuretalk plc, deputy chairman of scientific digital imaging plc , director of cambridge venture management (2000) ltd, registered ceo, while charles watson, chairman of pr firm financial dynamics, named non-executive chairman.

batstone , brown non-executive directors; batstone former marketing chief of economist group , trustee of bedales, independent secondary school, , brown founder of metier management systems.

the 14 academic partners, referred professoriate, announced as:

philosophers a. c. grayling, simon blackburn , peter singer
historians david cannadine , niall ferguson
economist partha dasgupta
scientists richard dawkins (will professor of evolutionary biology), steve jones (was have been professor of biological sciences), lawrence m. krauss (will professor of science), , steven pinker
legal scholars ronald dworkin , adrian zuckerman
literary critic christopher ricks.

since launch of college, professors vernon bogdanor, daniel c dennett, rebecca goldstein, roger halson, howard jacobson, simon may, barbara mcdonald, stephen neal, sir trevor nunn , christopher peacocke have joined professoriate , lectured @ college.

a charitable trust established, new college of humanities trust, consisting of grayling, gibbs, batstone, watson, , brown.

first cohort

the first cohort of students consisted of around 60 students, independent schools; 1 in 5 of college s offers have gone state-school students. college staff made 130 visits schools (21 state schools) attract applications.