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Advanced Diploma in Ministerial Theology (ADMT)

The ADMT course was created for those students seeking ordination who already have a university degree in theology. This course enables students to fulfil the Ministry Division requirements for ordination and complete further study leading to a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Theological Studies or MA in Applied Theology. There is a fair degree of flexibility in this course allowing students to tailor their own programme. The purpose of the ADMT is threefold:

• To relate previous studies to the new context of ministerial formation.
• To round out previous theological studies in areas where these are deemed deficient for the purpose of ordination training.
• To provide study at a level which is stimulating, challenging and relevant to ministerial formation, given previous theological qualification.

A key feature of this course is that the student under the guidance of the Academic Registrar and the personal tutor puts together his/her own programme of study. The programme should build on previous study and experience, cater for the student's particular strengths and interests and provide for his or her areas of need and weakness. Because the ADMT builds upon a previous theology degree students generally do not take Level 1 units (see Overview of units).

Students may also be allowed exemptions for certain required modules of the ADMT course if they have in fact taken a similar module in their previous degree. This allows the student to take further modules in a preferred field of study.

The ADMT programme also enables the student to complete a further degree that is validated by the University of Bristol. The normal expectation is that students will include in the ADMT either a PGDip in Theological Studies or an MA in Applied Theology. The MA consists of four taught modules and a dissertation of 15,000 words. The PGDip also requires four taught modules but no dissertation.

Any proposal to include other postgraduate study (PhD, MLitt, MPhil, MA), will require the approval of the Ministry Division Further Degrees Panel. It is vital to ensure that the student is not swallowed up by the demands of research, but gives adequate time, space and energy to prepare for parish ministry. For this reason the research should normally be spread over the two years including the intervening summer (rather than being left for the last nine months).

There are three tracks available for ADMT students:

• ADMT with PGDip: 140 credits for ordination + 120 credits of MA modules
• ADMT with MA in Applied Theology: 100 credits for ordination + 120 credits of MA modules + 60 credits for the dissertation
• ADMT with MPhil (rarely with Mlitt/PhD): a minimum of 260 credits during the two years. No MA modules are required and the dissertation can be assigned a value of up to 120 credits. This option is not available to any student unless previously agreed by the Ministry Division Further Degrees Panel, the Academic Registrar and the Principal.

The entrance requirements for the ADMT programmes are as follows:

• A student is required to have a previous university degree in Theology.
• To enter directly onto the MA programme a 2:1 degree is required.
• With lower than a 2:1 degree, a student may enter the PGDip programme. Upgrade to the MA is possible if a student achieves a 2:1 mark in at least two MA units and demonstrates the ability to continue to work at this level.