Faith-based degrees “damage science”
British universities are dishonest and undermining science by offering bachelor of science (BSc) degrees in homoeopathy, a leading medical researcher said yesterday.
David Colquhoun, Professor of Pharmacology at University College London (UCL), said that the courses were fundamentally dishonest because homoeopathic medicine was not founded on science, yet was being presented as such by reputable universities.
BSc degrees, he said, should be reserved for subjects which had genuine scientific content, and ought not to be awarded for the study of a system of medicine that had repeatedly failed rigorous clinical trials.
In a commentary for the journal Nature, he wrote that while courses in subjects such as golf course management and surf studies had been widely derided as “Mickey Mouse” degrees, they at least did not pretend to be something they are not.
The homoeopathy BScs offered by Westminster, Salford and Central Lancashire universities were far worse because the underlying subject matter was founded on faith, not science.
Faith-based degree “damages science” -News-UK-Science-TimesOnline