page_title: New College of the Humanities at Northeastern
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: New College of the Humanities at Northeastern / Background / History
caption_attribution_description: English: AC Grayling signing books at 2010 Global Atheist Convention
context_page_description: New College of the Humanities, owned by NCH at Northeastern Ltd, is a primarily undergraduate and master's degree college in London, UK, founded by the philosopher A. C. Grayling, who became its first Master.
  In February 2019 Northeastern University, based in Boston, Massachusetts, purchased the New College of the Humanities. In February 2020 NCH at Northeastern Ltd was awarded taught degree awarding powers for a period of six years.
context_section_description: The liberal arts college bases its pedagogy on the Oxbridge tutorial model. Initial reports said it aimed to offer an education to rival that of Oxford and Cambridge, but Grayling said this had been blown out of proportion by press hyperbole. He said he had the idea for the college years ago when he was admissions tutor for an Oxbridge college, and the university was turning down 12 good interviewees for every successful one. 
  Grayling himself completed his first degree in philosophy in the 1970s as a University of London external student. He argues that there is not enough elite university provision in the UK, leading thousands of British students to study in the United States instead. He told The Independent that the headmaster of Winchester College, an independent secondary school, had said many of his best students failed to get into Oxbridge because of government pressure to increase the number of students from state schools. Grayling has criticised English state examinations, arguing that A-levels do not measure ability adequately.
  Grayling said David Willetts, the universities minister, was told of the project in 2010, and appeared enthusiastic. NCH Limited was first named Grayling Hall Limited (after A. C. Grayling and Peter Hall), incorporated in July 2010 and registered at an address in Peckham, south London. The name was changed to New College of the Humanities in February 2011. The warden of New College, Oxford, asked Grayling to change the name again to prevent confusion with the Oxford college.
  From September 2012 to September 2015 it offered tuition in economics, English, history, law and philosophy and politics and international relations for undergraduate degrees with the University of London International Programme. From 2015 it ran its own degree programmes, validated by Southampton Solent University. Its "Diploma of New College of the Humanities" is earned alongside the various combined BA and BSc degrees by completion of courses in applied ethics, critical reasoning, science literacy and LAUNCH, its professional development programme. It continues to offer a law degree through the University of London.
  In 2016 NCH announced that it would be offering its first postgraduate qualification, the Historical Research and Public History MA starting in September 2016. This Master’s programme has been designed by Dr Suzannah Lipscomb, Head of Faculty and Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History. It is validated by Swansea University. In 2017 the College launched three additional master's degrees, the MA Economic Policy & Communication, MSc Global Politics, and MA Philosophy.
  The college uses its own building, The Registry, and some of the University of London's teaching and student facilities, including Senate House Library and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, all in the Bloomsbury district of London.
  The College's foundation attracted a substantial response in the UK, where most higher education institutions are publicly funded, and a significant amount of adverse publicity. London's mayor, Boris Johnson, welcomed it as a bold experiment, while The Times argued that higher education has been a closed shop in the UK for too long. There was an angry reaction from sections of the academic community. Complaints included that NCH had copied the course descriptions of the University of London's international programmes on its website; was offering the same syllabus with a significantly higher price tag; and that the senior academics involved with the project would in fact do very little of the teaching.
  Academics and Administrators within the British academic world have in recent years alluded to the College's for-profit agenda, highlight the College's high tuition fees, the corporate structure as a Limited company, and the membership of the College's board.
caption: A. C. Grayling, professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College until June 2011, secured NCH's funding
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