Among the many changes in the British educational system over recent years has been the rise and rise of graduate education. Once a minority interest, relevant to only a few professional students, the Master’s degree has become a much respected and often required qualification reflecting its holder’s advanced professional training or enhanced ability in and awareness of a more closely defined area of study. If a Bachelor’s degree builds into students the necessary critical skills and imparts to them the information they need for a broad, general understanding of their discipline, it is really at Master’s level that they begin to engage seriously with scholarship in a precise and detailed way. Master’s degrees today are an effective preparation for doctoral research, but also a quality free-standing qualification which opens additional doors for employment.

Although Mattersey Hall has offered Master’s degrees since the 1990s, the establishment of Mattersey Hall Graduate School in 2004 marked a major expansion of the college’s commitment to graduate training. A graduate school is so much more than a degree programme – it offers a whole academic culture, which provides a coherent research focus, facilitates improved staff-student interaction and networking and enables more efficient administrative management, resulting in a vastly enhanced student experience at both academic and personal levels. Our Graduate School operates in close cooperation with the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Wales, Bangor, and our graduate students are registered with Bangor as well as Mattersey Hall. Together we offer a range of degrees, including MA, MTh, PhD and DMin, as well as a postgraduate diploma.

Dr Andrew Davies Vice Principal (Development) Director of the Graduate School