Journal of European Baptist Studies, 2017

14 Journal of European Baptist Studies 17:1 (2017) University, Praha. No, from 1999 until 2014 the programme, the admissions policy and the supporting mentoring, supervision, and review processes were in the hands of IBTS, though naturally subject to the approval of the Validation Board of the University of Wales and the standards laid down for all United Kingdom Universities by the Quality Assurance Agency of the British government. To have such a programme was almost unbelievable. To admit students who might complete such a programme was challenging. The starting point was with our own graduates and within our faculty team. The aspiration of the IBTS Directorate was to have an academic team where everyone had an earned doctorate in the relevant discipline area. Enrolment was slow and cautious. Finding supervisors could be a challenge. Three developments here need to be noted which changed the dynamics. Firstly, the University of Manchester had a bad experience of a validation partner in another country in a non-theological field failing to deliver to an appropriate standard. The University Vice Chancellor decided he must protect the University and that no non-UK validation partners could be entertained. We were, therefore, asked to withdraw from the Partnership for Theological Education in Manchester and lost our access to the MA in Mission. 30 This was something of a blow to IBTS, but Professor Davies proposed that Wales take over our MA in Mission module structure and that it become an MTh in Contextual Mission validated by the University of Wales and that missiology students could be admitted to the doctoral programme. Secondly, David Brown said he now could see that IBTS was on an even keel and he ought to withdraw and return to the USA so that a European could be appointed to the post he had held. The title was adjusted to Director of Applied Theology and a search was launched. Dr Wesley H. Brown, an American Baptist Churches International Ministries missionary working with the EBF and based in Praha, suggested we might want to consider interviewing Dr Parush R. Parushev, a Bulgarian working on his theology doctorate at Fuller Seminary. Several applicants emerged, but Parush Parushev was head and shoulders above them in terms of gifting, theological thought, and understanding of academic organisation. 31 His arrival at IBTS featured the application of insights learnt from his previous academic life, which created the unique doctoral programme. 30 With the passing of years, events can change. Manchester now has a large validation programme and has been pleased to validate the MA offered by the IBTS Centre in Amsterdam, so a full circle has been achieved. 31 Parush R. Parushev had a first academic career in applied mathematics and robotics. He is a member of the Bulgarian Academy of Science and a docent in his field. He then changed disciplines on becoming a Christian and has acquired first