Over the summer Religious Studies at Kent secured three leading international staff from the University of Glasgow to make a leading international centre for the study of religion.
Rarely in a Humanities subject is there a group transfer of staff from one major University to another, but the leading international research work in Religious Studies at Kent is now attracting some of the biggest names in the field ahead of the REF assessment in 2013.
In a desire to make the ancient religious city of Canterbury a centre of academic excellence the Vice Chancellor of the University of Kent, the Dean of the Humanities and Head of SECL supported and secured this major move.
Professor Richard King, Professor Yvonne Sherwood and Dr Ward Blanton, all at the University of Glasgow, will significantly reshape the study of religion at the University of Kent when they arrive in January 2013.
For the first time since its establishment in 1965, Religious Studies at the University of Kent will now have a Chair in Buddhism and Asian Studies, a Chair in Hebrew Bible and European Thought and a Reader in New Testament and European Thought.
Professor Jeremy Carrette, Head of Religious Studies, said: ‘Religious Studies has been transformed in the last few years and these appointments, alongside existing high level staff, will make the University of Kent a major international centre for research in Religion. It will improve staff-student ratio and secure excellence in teaching and research for the future, with a greater number of courses and publications.’
This expansion comes at the same time as attaining the highest number of undergraduate students for the BA in Religious Studies since the foundation of the department and securing some major research grants in the last three years.