January 21, 2013

A British Intellectual Pioneers a New Model for College

Inspired in part by American liberal-arts colleges, it rankles critics at home

A British Intellectual Pioneers a New College Model 1

Eamonn McCabe for The Chronicle

As master of the New College of the Humanities, A.C. Grayling says he hopes to help prepare students for challenges that "we can't even envisage yet."

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Eamonn McCabe for The Chronicle

As master of the New College of the Humanities, A.C. Grayling says he hopes to help prepare students for challenges that "we can't even envisage yet."

By Aisha Labi

London

In his role as founder of the New College of the Humanities, Britain's newest and most controversial institution of higher education, A.C. Grayling could have chosen among several titles. The senior academic officer at most English higher-education institutions is known as vice chancellor, with a few rectors and a provost and a president or two in the mix. In Scotland, the customary title is principal. Mr. Grayling, however, has opted for master, an honorific with long antecedents at the