Educating Parapsychologists

Journal of Parapsychology, The, Sept, 1999 by Matthew D. Smith

The prevalence of the RRC in the educational experiences of a high proportion of researchers (or at least a high proportion of those who have received some formal education in parapsychology) might also be taken to highlight the lack of alternative sources for such training. However this situation appears to be changing.

Those of us who do not live in North Carolina may be pleased to learn that there are also a handful of educational opportunities available elsewhere. For example, no matter where you may be located in the world, it is now possible to take an on-line academic course in parapsychology at the University of Utrecht over the internet thanks to the efforts of Professor Dick Bierman. The course runs between March and June each year, during which one key article per week is made available on the internet for students to read, critique, and answer specific questions by email. The emails are re-distributed to all participants along with comments by the instructor, Prof. Bierman himself. There are also "meet-the-expert" chat sessions where students can ask questions in real-time to authors of some of the selected articles. Students who are based at a Dutch university can take the course for academic credit and there are plans for similar arrangements for students based at a US university.

In addition, it is also occasionally possible to take courses in parapsychology as part of a regular undergraduate degree program. For example, at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, psychology students are able to take several courses in parapsychology as part of their degree.

Perhaps the most striking proliferation of undergraduate degree programs which include an option in parapsychology can be found in the UK. At present I am aware of at least five higher education institutions in the UK which offer parapsychology courses as part of a BA, BSc, or MA degree program (usually as part of a degree in psychology). These are Coventry University University of Edinburgh, Liverpool Hope University College, Liverpool John Moores University, and University College Northampton. In addition, some other UK universities run courses that include parapsychology as part of a wider consideration of the paranormal, such as those offered in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and in the Department of Behavioural Sciences at the University of Huddersfield. At all of these institutions, undergraduate students may also choose to examine a parapsychological topic for their independent research project (for example, their final year dissertation). Such projects typic ally link parapsychology with some other area of psychology by, for example, conducting a study to explore the relationship between performance on a psi task and selected psychological variables (such as extroversion, belief in psi, and so on).

Even at the graduate level the opportunities are greater than they have been for some time. For example, at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California, one can study towards a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology by including courses in parapsychology and conducting research on parapsychological topics. Also in California, the Saybrook Institute in San Francisco offers opportunities to study for an MA or PhD in an area that could include parapsychology, while the California Institute for Integral Studies offers a graduate course in Intuition, Parapsychology, and Consciousness as part of the Institute's distant learning program.