UK/China Graduate Philosophy Programme 2014/15

Aims: The programme is aimed to bring a small number of outstanding philosophy graduates from China to the UK for a year of study at University of Oxford, King’s College London, and University of Reading. It is expected to 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.

Details: 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. The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford; 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, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Graduate School and Zhejiang University. For the 2014 intake, suitable PhD students from other universities may also be considered.

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 and 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 include some or all of the following:

·        intensive philosophical reading and discussion of a classic western philosophical text chosen in light of the background of the students.

·        intensive reading and discussion of important papers showing the development of analytic philosophy in both theoretical and practical domains

·        presentation and discussion of their own research by students

Application: The success of the scheme will depend above all on the selection of participating students. We shall select students for the scheme from among those recommended by their departments, and we are inviting each institution nominate at least two and at most three candidates from your institution each year. We ask you to submit the applications on behalf of the students you wish to nominate, with a note confirming the names of these candidates, rather than inviting applicants to submit their applications to us themselves.

Selection will be on intellectual merit alone. Applications, written in English, should consist of (1) a brief CV (maximum two pages), (2) a 1000 word statement of research interests, (3) a writing sample (max 5000 words), and (4) two references by Chinese philosophers who know the students and who are well acquainted with philosophy in Oxford/Reading/KCL or comparable western universities. The statement of research interests should focus entirely on the proposed research in the UK and not include other background information.

A high level of proficiency in English will be required (IELTS Overall score 7.5 [minimum component scores 7.0]; TOEFL (internet based) Overall score 110 [minimum component scores listening 22; reading 24; speaking 25; writing 24). Candidates may be nominated before they achieve these IELTS or TOEFL scores, but those selected for the programme must obtain them before applying for a UK visa.

Applications will need to be received by email by Xiangdong Xu, Nick Bunnin and John Hyman on 30 September 2013 at the latest. (Our email addresses are below.) There will be interviews by Skype, on dates to be confirmed, but we anticipate that the interviews will be in late October. All applicants will need to apply successfully for Chinese Government Scholarships in order to be awarded a place on the scheme.

John Hyman

john.hyman@queens.ox.ac.uk

Nick Bunnin

nick.bunnin@chinese.ox.ac.uk

Xiangdong Xu

xuxd1965@gmail.com