Rector Newsletter
- NEWSLETTER 53 FROM PRAGUE AT THE START OF 2011
1 FEBRUARY 2011: FROM The Revd Dr Keith G Jones FRHistS, Rector
/Keith: February 2011, Prague, IBTS/ - NEWSLETTER 52 FROM PRAGUE AT THE START OF OUR 62nd ACADEMIC YEAR AUGUST 2010 FROM The Revd Dr Keith G Jones FRHistS, Rector
/Keith G Jones: August 2010, Prague, IBTS, First week of our 62nd Academic Year/ - NEWSLETTER 51 FROM PRAGUE IN HOLY WEEK 2010, FROM The Revd Dr Keith G Jones FRHistS, Rector, MARCH 2010
/Keith G Jones: March 2010, Prague, IBTS, Holy Week 2010/
NEWSLETTER 54 FROM PRAGUE AT THE START OF OUR 63rd ACADEMIC YEAR 27 AUGUST 2011: FROM The Revd Dr Keith G Jones FRHistS, Rector
Orientation
Greetings to you from IBTS, Prague, where we are "girding up our loins" for the launch of our 63rd academic year in a matter of hours. Already, Masters and Post Graduate students are arriving on campus and this morning we launch out on our specialist virtual module in Research and Critical Thinking. This is my fourteenth launch of an Academic Year in Prague; nevertheless it is always a challenge to see names of prospective students on an Excel presentation turn into real live human beings with personalities, characters, traits and foibles one has to come to terms with.
As always, there is a certain anxiety as to whether everyone will turn up, especially those needing a visa. One of the continuing paradoxes of the Czech Republic is that successive governments have told the universities to recruit more foreign students, whilst at the same time making obtaining a student visa more difficult. Supposedly, to reduce corruption, responsibility for processing visas was removed from the Foreigners' Police to the Interior Ministry, but the only visible sign of change in the system has been the slowing-down of the process.
Nevertheless, I have dusted down my name badge, printed off version eight of our Orientation Programme (there are bound to be more changes, but I need a paper version at some point, not being an aficionado of the latest technology which means carrying an all-singing and dancing phone, or an iPad around with me) and psychologically adjusting as our quiet campus tranforms, within hours, into a place of intense activity and incessant questions.
We hope to have on campus twenty-one new M level students, together with eleven CATs – visas permitting! Of these, nine students are doing the preparatory course with hopes of entering our MPhil/PhD programme in a year.
Academic success
The 62nd year was a good one. We had six successful candidates for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. This year promises to be on much the same track with a further six people either submitting dissertations or likely to do so during the year. We had six students gain the Post Graduate Certificate in Theology and nine graduating with Masters degrees.
This is a great credit to the Academic Team, Faculty and Adjunct Lecturers, and Supervisors who work with us, taking such care in the support, teaching and encouragement we give to our students. Importantly, most of those graduating have gone into, or continue in key ministry and educational roles within the Christian church. The multiplication effect of our work in Prague can then be seen as very significant, principally in Europe and the Middle East, but also in Africa, the Americas and Asia.
Doctor of Ministry
For some time we have been considering whether a professional doctorate in ministry was a good idea in the context of Europe and the Middle East developed by, aimed at and delivered by those within the baptistic tradition. There has been an approach amongst academics in Europe which has been critical of the growth of professional doctorates in Education, Management and in Theology. However, practitioners have found value in doing study and in reflecting on their experience mid-career in an academic setting. Whilst they do not exist in academia in the Germanic tradition, they are slowly being developed within the isles. Acadia Divinity School in Nova Scotia Canada, is a world renowned Baptist seminary linked to Acadia University which was founded by Baptists, but is now fully owned by the State of Nova Scotia. Acadia has been offering a DMin degree which attracts students from throughout north America and beyond. We have entered a strategic partnership with Acadia and Canadian Baptist Ministries to deliver the Doctor of Ministry degree in Europe as from September 2012. This is a significant moment for Baptists in Europe and the Middle East and we expect this programme to be popular. IBTS staff will help Acadia deliver the programme and some of the study modules will be from our current portfolio.
Glen H Stassen and the Nordehaugh lectures
Glen Stassen, one of our Research Professors who is a Christian ethicist at Fuller Seminary in California, will deliver the Nordenhaug lectures at the end of October. Already we are getting people sign up to attend these from various countries in Europe, but there is still space to register and participate.
2012 – celebrating Thomas Helwy's plea for religious liberty
In 1612 Thomas Helwys, the Baptist pioneer, penned a letter to the King declaring it was not for Princes and rulers to decide for their subjects what an individual should believe. It is generally accepted to be the first plea for religious liberty in the English language (Hubmaier, the Anabaptist, had an earlier letter to the Emperor making the same point). We will celebrate the event with a special conference in Prague, which will include our alumnus, Raimundo Barreto, who is the BWA staff member for Freedom and Justice, and Professor Malcolm Evans from the University of Bristol, a Baptist who is a famous international expert in this field and works with OCED and others on these issues. Co-sponsored with the EBF, we believe this will be the most significant celebration of this important event.
2011 - a challenging year
As we launch into our academic programme, we ask you to think about us and pray for us. The economic climate is far from healthy. We have held down costs, increased student and tenancy income, but struggle with donation income. We seek the support of our 52 Baptist unions in Europe who own us and benefit from our work. We need our alumni to put back into the life of IBTS gifts from their own development.
We need the confidence to believe our historic donors will continue to help us and new donors will be found to support our students who come from challenging and economically stretched situations in central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
A final thought
To remain here in Prague we must continue to narrow the gap between income and expenditure. We have made great strides over the past three years. Realistically we need to reduce costs and increase income to bridge a gap of Kc 5 million (€200,000; US $277,700). We are holding down costs, but we need to improve income steadily. Please join us in prayer that we will be equal to the task.
In Christ,
