UK/China graduate philosophy programme
I'm writing to you about a scheme to bring a small number of outstanding philosophy graduates
from China to the UK for a year. Brad Hooker at the University of Reading and Maria Alvarez
and Mark Textor at King's College, London recently proposed the scheme to their respective
departments, and Nick Bunnin and I proposed it to the Faculty of Philosophy in Oxford. I'm
happy to say that it has now been approved for a two-year trial period (2012-13 and 2013-14) by
all three institutions.
We're very excited about the scheme, which will provide a kind of foundation year in analytic
philosophy for graduates who are likely to play an important role in the rapid development of
analytic philosophy in China. Apart from its primary purpose, it will also give Chinese graduates
and their peers in the UK the opportunity to build friendships, leading to closer links between UK
and Chinese departments in the future, as both groups of graduates progress in their professions.
The details of the scheme are below. The funding plan for the scheme is that Chinese
Government scholarships cover travel, accommodation and subsistence, while the fees will be
covered by fund-raising specifically for the scheme, which is already underway.
The success of the scheme will depend above all on the selection of participating students. We
plan to select students for the scheme from among those recommended by their departments, and
we are inviting each institution to propose up to three students to participate each year. A high
level of proficiency in English will be required, and selection will be on intellectual merit alone.
Applications, written in English, should consist of a brief CV (maximum two pages), a statement
of research interests (max 1000 words), a writing sample (max 5000 words) and two references by
Chinese philosophers who know the students and who are well acquainted with philosophy in
Oxford/Reading/KCL or comparable western universities. A shortlist of candidates may be
interviewed by a panel including a representative of the scheme (probably Nick Bunnin) in Beijing.
The closing date for applications and the dates for interviews will be tied in with the timetable for
Government Scholarship applications. We shall decide on this shortly and let you know.
We would be delighted if you would agree to act as the scheme’s representative in your institution.
This will involve selecting up to three candidates, and submitting their applications to Xiangdong
Xu at PKU, who will coordinate the application in Beijing, and to Nick and myself at Oxford.
Please let us know as soon as possible whether you are able to take this on, and also if there is any
other information it would be useful for you to have at this stage.
Best wishes,
John Hyman
Nick Bunnin
Details of the Scheme
The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, the Department of Philosophy, University of
Reading and Department of Philosophy, King’s College, London will accept four to seven
exceptionally able philosophy PhD students from China per year for a single academic year, up to
three students in Oxford and up to four in the other two departments combined.
Students will normally be first-year PhDs (there is some flexibility here) from a range of Beijing
institutions: Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal
University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Graduate School. (Students from other
major universities in China, especially those in Shanghai, may also be selected in future years. The
British and Chinese partners will agree on the choice of institutions.)
Students on the scheme will be invited to attend philosophy seminars, classes and lectures. They
will be able to use university libraries and will be given university email accounts. They will
also be assigned Academic Advisers, who will be members of the Faculty/Departments. The
Academic Advisers will have the same responsibilities as for other Recognized Students at
Oxford/Reading/KCL, viz., to meet the student at least twice a term to advise on the work of the
student but not to give systematic instruction.
The students at all three departments will also participate in a special seminar, led by two
philosophers from the participating departments. The seminar may be held in Oxford, London or
Reading. It will have three-hour meetings four times a term (36 hours per year), and will follow
one of two models:
MODEL A 1st Term: intensive philosophical reading and discussion of a classic western
philosophical text chosen in light of the background of the students. 2nd and 3rd Terms: intensive
reading and discussion of important papers showing the development of analytic philosophy in
both theoretical and practical domains.
MODEL B 1st Term: intensive philosophical reading and discussion of a classic text. 2nd Term:
reading and discussion of important papers. 3rd Term: presentation and discussion of research
papers by students.
Nicholas Bunnin
Institute for Chinese Studies
University of Oxford
Walton Street, Oxford OX1 2HG UK
John Hyman
The Queen’s College
Oxford OX1 4AW