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The board of
regents receive many
interesting questions about the degree process. Recently, I
received this question from a UB minister:
Q: I already have a Master of Divinity degree from another
University. Can I bypass the UBU M.Div. process and apply directly
to your doctoral program?
Universal Brotherhood University is not an academic organization in
the traditional sense. We offer no set classes, and all the courses
through UBU are self-designed by the individual scholars. The idea
with UBU is not to provide ministers with one more piece of fancy
paper that shows they have "learned what they need to learn from
classes they were required to take." Instead, our goal is to provide
validation to each minister's unique spiritual path.
We
are not an accredited university in the traditional sense. On the
other hand, we on the Board of Regents provide faculty-coaching to
each scholar. It is a priceless and most unique connection between
scholar and "mentor" or faculty-coach. We maintain an
exacting review process for the theses and dissertations that are
submitted.
Some
ministers who come to UBU from a traditional university background
are at a loss at first when we ask them to provide their own
structure for the degree process. This process of developing one’s
own course of study forces UBU ministers to explore the true meaning
of their individual ministries, and has often resulted in an
expansion from a basic ministry to a true “life work.”
Although each minister may research other writings extensively as
part of his/her preparation for writing the thesis, UBU does not
accept a master’s thesis that is simply a recounting of someone
else’s work. We want to know how that work has applied to your
ministry, how you have expanded on those ideas, how you have grown
through the process of preparing your thesis.
We
have had people ask if work they did for their master's thesis at
another university could be used for their UBU degree. We review
each request on an individual basis. It may indeed be possible to
use a previously-written thesis for our degree program, but only if
the minister develops a complementary paper that explains his or her
spiritual growth through the process of writing that thesis and that
shows the growth of his or her personal ministry from the time of
that degree through the process of obtaining one from UBU. We are
not saying that we are better than Harvard; we are saying
that we are different than Harvard, Stanford, Yale or Princeton.
When
one has a degree through a conventional university, there is an
"unlearning" curve to get through before reaching a UBU M.Div. After
that is accomplished, the UBU Doctorate degree becomes even more
meaningful, particularly since it has a stringent community-service
clause to fulfill before one is eligible for the D.Div.
We
on the Board of Regents delight in watching the spiritual progress
of the scholars who progress through UBU. The quality, breadth, and
depth of the master's theses and doctoral dissertations never ceases
to astonish us and to make us proud to be a part of such a rich and
fulfilling institution.
We
on the Board of Regents hope you will consider joining us. Whether
or not you do, we wish you well. You may contact me at
myownship@bellsouth.net
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