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• Full-time study
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• Ordination programmes
• Study unit details
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Full-time study

Trinity offers full-time programmes of study at all levels from undergraduate certificate to research postgraduate. We have approximately 90 full-time undergraduate students and 35 full-time research postgraduates. Almost all our students are on programmes that are validated by the University of Bristol. (After September 2014 our non-research degrees will be validated by the University of Durham; research degrees will continue to be validated by Brisol University.)

At Trinity we aspire to excellence in academic scholarship and rigour. We also insist that all our academic study is integrated with experience and practice by emphasising the importance of theological reflection and by providing forms of assessment that enable students to explore the relevance of each subject to experience. In addition, as part of our aim to equip Christians to lead healthy, growing churches, we strive to ensure that all the disciplines are permeated with the cross-curricular themes of

• Bible
• discipleship and leadership
• evangelism and mission.

Whether you are being called to ordained or lay ministry or to be better equipped to extend God's kingdom through further study, Trinity has a variety of study pathways for you to explore.

The majority of students at Trinity follow

a one-year course leading to a Certificate in Theology

a two-year course leading to a Diploma in Theology

a three-year course leading to a BA (Hons) Degree in Theology.

The Certificate, Diploma and Degree are not wholly separate courses but rather represent successive stages of a single programme of study extending over three years. This programme is modular in structure and has been designed to offer maximum flexibility to accommodate the varying needs of a wide range of students. Modularity has made it possible to offer part-time variants of the Certificate, Diploma and Degree with Honours courses.

These awards are all validated and conferred by the University of Bristol.  If you come to Trinity, you can be assured that you will receive a theological education whose standards are of the highest order. The courses are enhanced by integration with Bristol Baptist College.

The courses themselves are, however, unique to Trinity and substantially different from those on offer in university departments of theology. They have been constructed with the distinctive needs in mind of those training for Christian ministry. As well as offering theological study to all interested in Christian service the Diploma and BA (Hons) courses fulfil Church of England ordination requirements. They are intended to produce, not academic theologians in the first instance, but men and women who can apply a trained theological mind to the enormous challenges and opportunities of Christian ministry today. A strong emphasis is placed on encouraging students to integrate theoretical learning with pastoral practice, as well as on the integration of the different disciplines which make up the study of theology. Training in mission and evangelism forms an important strand running through the courses. Placement work is an essential component of the two-year and three-year courses for college-based students. Hence at Trinity, academic learning is not an end in itself but a fully integrated component of a programme designed to equip you for Christian ministry.