The Great Experiment | 19
Pioneer students entering Keele Hall courtyard , 1950s
What did that mean for the courses taken by those first 159 students – the ‘ pioneers ’ – back in 1950 ?
At first , all degrees at Keele lasted for four years . An initial foundation year consisted of eleven lectures each week plus a tutorial in three areas : sciences , social sciences and humanities . Students wrote an essay every three weeks and had to pass two examinations at the end of the year . They then progressed to a threeyear honours programme in which they studied two subjects not just one . And they took three ‘ subsidiary ’ subjects in addition !
The original Keele curriculum marked , in the words of the historian Christopher Hill , ‘ a decisive break with those of traditional universities ’, a ‘ turning point in English educational history ’.
Typescript of Lindsay ’ s welcome lecture for Keele ’ s first students , delivered on 19 October 1950