Westminster University’s crackpot ’science’ degrees
April 23rd, 2008
Veteran quack-basher Prof. David Colquhoun reports on Westminster University’s crackerjack science degrees in er… pseudoscience. Yes, for just £3,145 (or £9,450 for you internationals), students can earn a Bachelor of Science in Complementary Therapies, including classes in herbal medicine, vibrational medicine and homeopathy. Does the course involve looking at the science behind these quack medical practices? Does it hell. Let’s look at one of the lecture slides:
Remember, this quasi-Jedi mumbo-jumbo isn’t just a single class or lecture - this is an entire science degree course at a British university. Your tax dollars at work, folks. To top it all off, Westminster University’s Vice Chancellor has repeatedly refused calls from the Times, the BBC and Prof. Colquhoun (a highly distinguished scientist himself) to answer this insult of a science degree. You can see all the gory details on David’s blog.
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7 Comments Add your own
1. Dr Aust | April 24th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Be fair to Westminster, Frank, they’re not selling it that cheap. It’s £ 3,145 per year for the three years, plus whatever it costs you to live in London, probably a decent whack.
Of course, you might be able to earn some money to fund you through the course by already being a practising Alternative Therapist. Or estate agent or pole dancer. I wonder which of the three professions is the least morally compromised?
2. Frank the SciencePunk | April 24th, 2008 at 9:34 am
There’s nothing morally compromised about pole dancing, Dr Aust.
(you forget, I stage manage burlesque shows as a second job)
3. She-Liger | April 25th, 2008 at 1:42 am
http://postpostscriptum.wordpress.com/
4. …and postpostscript&hellip | April 25th, 2008 at 1:44 am
[...] http://www.sciencepunk.com/v5/2008/…science-degrees/ [...]
5. reef | April 25th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Whether you agree with all that guff or not, you could easily spend 3 years attempting to learn it and not even begin to scratch the surface of the subject (especially at the pace today’s Universities teach at, to make themselves more accessible to thickos).
However, as none of these treatments are measurable (i.e. not science), I struggle to see how it’s made it into a University, nevermind as a BSc.
Perhaps they should reclassify it as BSc(Fake)
6. Ocelot | April 29th, 2008 at 3:11 am
I find it unsurprising that the fraudsters, witting or otherwise, who “teach” this “course” can’t even manage to spell “ayurveda” correctly in their lecture slide.
7. …and postpostscript&hellip | May 28th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
[...] http://www.sciencepunk.com/v5/2008/тАжscience-degrees/ [...]
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