The famous University of St Andrew's in Scotland has said that its Divinity Distance Learning Course is already a hit all over the world, just three years after its inception.

The course, which is conducted via the Internet and leads to either the M.Litt or the Graduate Diploma, juxtaposes issues of contemporary social and political concern, including globalisation, consumerism, feminism, green issues, citizenship and the world of the arts, with the ancient Christian texts.

“Only a few of the many people who want to do postgraduate study can afford either the time or money to step aside from employment and re-locate to Scotland,” said St Andrew's School of Divinity Distance Learning Officer Dr Eric Stoddart. “Not only can we offer an alternative but one that draws on the internationally-recognized scholarship of the University's teaching staff.

It's hard work for these students but they become experts in time-management. Interacting with each other on-line means they draw on experiences from across the world and as mixed group of clergy and lay people.”

The first graduates of the course received their diplomas just last September, and the current crop of budding theologians, due to graduate next month include a Catholic priest, an Episcopal school chaplain in Canada, a Quaker peace activist from the Republic of Ireland, an AIDS charity worker based in Northern Ireland, as well as a Church of England parish priest from Gloucestershire.

Catholicism will be studied in further depth this September when the university will add an extra Citizenship module to the course, which will require students to engage with recent Catholic social teaching as well as Protestant perspectives on matters.

Dr Stoddart added: “After the module the students should have gained a better understanding their own citizenship and discovering how it might be enhanced by (and feed into) the spirituality of their community.”