Psychological warfare

The report that De Montfort University is contemplating withdrawing from accreditation by the British Psychological Society ("Course loses quality stamp", April 28) should come as good news to those of us in higher education who for some years have had concerns about the hegemonic sway of the BPS over course development matters wherever there is the faintest smattering of a psychology input into programmes of study.

The temptation for external professional bodies to overstep the boundaries between serving in an academically disinterested consultative capacity as independent voluntary associations, on the one hand, and operating as powerful monopolistic pressure groups promoting the narrow self-interest of their paid-up memberships, on the other hand, has been barely resisted in the case of the BPS in recent times.

Sadly, this blurring of the lines between the scientific and political functions of this influential promotional body has had baleful effects on educational provision in the sector.

One unfortunate consequence is that truly interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary curricula have been narrowed down to psychology-dominated course structures, much to the detriment of breadth of education and the range of options for students.

With the muscle of the BPS behind them, psychologists hold to ransom course teams, curriculum planners and the wider higher education sector wherever psychologists stake out their expanding territory and influence.

Such a narrow "my subject, my world" focus impedes knowledge diffusion and restricts creative learning and teaching experiences for future generations of students in a global economy that favours interdisciplinary thinking and cross-subject field experience.

Where parity of subject authority goes, so too does the academy as an open society, a true republic of scholars.

DMU is to be applauded for its courage in taking a stand against sapiential authoritarianism.

William Keenan

Nottingham