The establishment in the UK of a philosophical and religious studies subject center

Summary: A paper, orginally presented to the 13th International Conference of the American Association of Philosophy Teachers, on the establishment of this Centre.

I have been invited here to speak to you about the new Philosophical and Religious Studies Subject Centre of the Learning and Teaching Support Network, of which I am Director. This is a terrible mouthful, so we usually refer to it as the PRS-LTSN, in the absence of any jazzier acronym.

Although the mission of the PRS-LTSN (at least as far as philosophy is concerned) is very close to that of the American Association of Philosophy Teachers, its structure and funding are very different. This is because of the unique nature of the British higher education system. So in order to explain how the PRS-LTSN fits into its institutional context, I shall begin with a thumbnail sketch of how British higher education has developed over the last century or so. My apologies to anyone who is already familiar with the facts.