Liberal education, research go hand-in-hand
What is the importance and role of a liberal education in the 21st Century?
On Thursday, Andrew Hakin, vicepresident academic and provost at the University of Lethbridge, spoke at the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs on the topic as the U of L shifts back to its roots as a liberal arts educator. The title of his presentation was “Building a better society: is liberal education a fundamental pillar?”
Hakin spoke about the roots of the U of L, starting with local residents coming together and demanding a university independent of the University of Alberta.
“I like to think it was because the citizenry had recognized education as something that moves society forward,” he said. “That a university within the city of Lethbridge would, itself, be transformational.”
There are a number of studies which examine the correlation between education and health, wealth and satisfaction, and, according to Hakin, there are direct correlations to be found. “The news is good,” he said. The four pillars Hakin described that make up the liberal education model at the U of L include breadth, critical thinking, cross-discipline connections and civic engagement.
He noted there is no better place to see the infusion of liberal arts and learning than in research fields.
“Research and learning go handin-hand,” he said. “And there’s no better place in my mind to demonstrate a liberal education than through the research experience.”
He also spoke about the complexity of the world and the importance of graduating students who understand and are comfortable with those complexities — particularly in the sciences.
“These are complex ideas that really begin to bend your mind. And this is the world we’re living in,” he said.
He went further by saying the ability to translate complex science discoveries into a useable form was vital to the process. Communication, and the ability to both communicate findings and interact with colleagues in a chosen area of study, was the difference between research successfully moving into the world and research that ended up forgotten in a journal.
A concept of a 21st Century learner has emerged as a person who has the ability to deal with complexity, diversity and change.
“There is no standing still in education,” he said. “It is a dynamic process. As we write the papers, the field changes. Our students have to be part of that.”
Another aspect was the need to develop a sense of social responsibility.
“What we do should give back to society,” he said.
Hakin said these days, the university focuses on being able to infuse the key components of liberal education into many different programs, in order to better prepare their students for the futures which await them.
Follow @JWSchnarrHerald on Twitter