HEPI 14th Annual Lecture: A perspective from Asia

Teaching a liberal arts education

• Massification of higher education in Asia has been accompanied by a desire to improve the quality of teaching. A notable trend, in this context, is that several leading universities have been strongly interested in, or have developed liberal arts education programmes. These typically emphasise broad-based curricula, interactive pedagogies like tutorials and small-group seminars, and extensive residential experience.
• This approach contrasts with long-standing and entrenched traditions of early deep specialisation, and rote-learning based predominantly around lectures. The goals of these programmes vary but the common thread is to nurture graduates who have deep critical thinking abilities and creativity.
• While the number of Asian universities that have launched liberal arts programmes is small, this is an indicator of a much wider interest in broader-based education and more interactive pedagogies that engage and activate student learning. The experience of the Yale-NUS College was briefly shared as an illustration. More...