Liberal arts education

Last updated

Philosophia et septem artes liberales
, "philosophy and the seven liberal arts." From the Hortus deliciarum
of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century) Hortus Deliciarum, Die Philosophie mit den sieben freien Kunsten.JPG
Philosophia et septem artes liberales, "philosophy and the seven liberal arts." From the Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)

Liberal arts education (from Latin liberalis 'free' and ars 'art or principled practice') [1] is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. [2] Liberal arts takes the term art in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. Liberal arts education can refer to studies in a liberal arts degree course or to a university education more generally. Such a course of study contrasts with those that are principally vocational, professional, or technical, as well as religiously based courses.

Contents

The term liberal arts for an educational curriculum dates back to classical antiquity in the West, but has changed its meaning considerably, mostly expanding it. The seven subjects in the ancient and medieval meaning came to be divided into the trivium of rhetoric, grammar, and logic, and the quadrivium of astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, and music. The modern sense of the term usually covers all the natural sciences, formal sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.

History

Before they became known by their Latin variations (artes liberales, septem artes liberales, studia liberalia), [3] the liberal arts were the continuation of Ancient Greek methods of enquiry that began with a "desire for a universal understanding." [4] Pythagoras argued that there was a mathematical (and geometric) harmony to the cosmos or the universe; his followers linked the four arts of astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, and music into one area of study to form the "disciplines of the mediaeval quadrivium". [5] In 4th-century-BC Athens, the government of the polis, or city-state, respected the ability of rhetoric or public speaking above almost everything else. [6] Eventually rhetoric, grammar, and dialectic (logic) became the educational programme of the trivium. Together they came to be known as the seven liberal arts. [7] Originally these subjects or skills were held by classical antiquity to be essential for a free person (liberalis, "worthy of a free person") [8] to acquire in order to take an active part in civic life, something that included among other things participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and participating in military service. While the arts of the quadrivium might have appeared prior to the arts of the trivium, by the Middle Ages educational programmes taught the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) first while the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy) were the following stage of education. [9]

Allegory of the seven liberal arts, The Phoebus Foundation Maerten de Vos - Allegory of the liberal arts.jpg
Allegory of the seven liberal arts, The Phoebus Foundation

Rooted in the basic curriculum – the enkuklios paideia or "well-rounded education" – of late Classical and Hellenistic Greece, the "liberal arts" or "liberal pursuits" (Latin liberalia studia) were already called so in formal education during the Roman Empire. The first recorded use of the term "liberal arts" (artes liberales) occurs in De Inventione by Marcus Tullius Cicero, but it is unclear if he created the term. [10] [11] Seneca the Younger discusses liberal arts in education from a critical Stoic point of view in Moral Epistles . [12] The exact classification of the liberal arts varied however in Roman times, [13] and it was only after Martianus Capella in the 5th century influentially brought the seven liberal arts as bridesmaids to the Marriage of Mercury and Philology , [14] that they took on canonical form.[ citation needed ]

The four "scientific" artes – music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy – were known from the time of Boethius onwards as the quadrivium . After the 9th century, the remaining three arts of the "humanities" – grammar, logic, and rhetoric – were grouped as the trivium. [13] It was in that two-fold form that the seven liberal arts were studied in the medieval Western university. [15] [16] During the Middle Ages, logic gradually came to take predominance over the other parts of the trivium. [17]

In the 12th century the iconic image – Philosophia et septem artes liberales (Philosophy and seven liberal arts) was produced by an Alsatian nun and abbess Herrad of Landsberg with her community of women as part of the Hortus deliciarum. [18] Their encyclopedia compiled ideas drawn from philosophy, theology, literature, music, arts, and sciences and was intended as a teaching tool for women of the abbey. [19] The image Philosophy and seven liberal arts represents the circle of philosophy, and is presented as a rosette of a cathedral: a central circle and a series of semicircles arranged all around. It shows learning and knowledge organised into seven relations, the Septem Artes Liberales or Seven Liberal Arts. Each of these arts find their source in the Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom". [18] St. Albert the Great, a doctor of the Catholic Church, asserted that the seven liberal arts were referred to in Sacred Scripture, saying: "It is written, 'Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn her out seven pillars' (Proverbs 9:1). This house is the Blessed Virgin; the seven pillars are the seven liberal arts." [20]

Page, with illustration of Music, from Marriage of Mercury and Philology Gherardo di giovannid el fora, musica, in marziano capella de nuptiis philologiae et mercurii, ms. urb lat 329 f 149v bibl ap vat.jpg
Page, with illustration of Music, from Marriage of Mercury and Philology

In the Renaissance, the Italian humanists and their Northern counterparts, despite in many respects continuing the traditions of the Middle Ages, reversed that process. [21] Re-christening the old trivium with a new and more ambitious name: Studia humanitatis , and also increasing its scope, they downplayed logic as opposed to the traditional Latin grammar and rhetoric, and added to them history, Greek, and moral philosophy (ethics), with a new emphasis on poetry as well. [22] The educational curriculum of humanism spread throughout Europe during the sixteenth century and became the educational foundation for the schooling of European elites, the functionaries of political administration, the clergy of the various legally recognized churches, and the learned professions of law and medicine. [23] The ideal of a liberal arts, or humanistic education grounded in classical languages and literature, persisted in Europe until the middle of the twentieth century; in the United States, it had come under increasingly successful attack in the late 19th century by academics interested in reshaping American higher education around the natural and social sciences. [24] [25]

Similarly, Wilhelm von Humboldt's educational model in Prussia (now Germany), which later became the role model for higher education also in North America, went beyond vocational training. In a letter to the Prussian king, he wrote:

There are undeniably certain kinds of knowledge that must be of a general nature and, more importantly, a certain cultivation of the mind and character that nobody can afford to be without. People obviously cannot be good craftworkers, merchants, soldiers or businessmen unless, regardless of their occupation, they are good, upstanding and – according to their condition – well-informed human beings and citizens. If this basis is laid through schooling, vocational skills are easily acquired later on, and a person is always free to move from one occupation to another, as so often happens in life. [26]

The philosopher Julian Nida-Rümelin has criticized discrepancies between Humboldt's ideals and the contemporary European education policy, which narrowly understands education as a preparation for the labor market, arguing that we need to decide between "McKinsey and Humboldt". [27]

Modern usage

The modern use of the term liberal arts consists of four areas: the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Academic areas that are associated with the term liberal arts include:


For example, the core courses for Georgetown University's Doctor of Liberal Studies program [28] cover philosophy, theology, history, art, literature, and the social sciences. Wesleyan University's Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program includes courses in visual arts, art history, creative and professional writing, literature, history, mathematics, film, government, education, biology, psychology, and astronomy. [29]

Secondary school

Liberal arts education at the secondary school level prepares students for higher education at a university.[ citation needed ] [30]

Curricula differ from school to school, but generally include language, chemistry, biology, geography, art, mathematics, music, history, philosophy, civics, social sciences, and foreign languages. [31]

In the United States

Thompson Library at Vassar College in New York Thompson Library (Vassar College).jpg
Thompson Library at Vassar College in New York

In the United States, liberal arts colleges are schools emphasizing undergraduate study in the liberal arts. [32] The teaching at liberal arts colleges is often Socratic, typically with small classes; professors are often allowed to concentrate more on their teaching responsibilities than are professors at research universities.[ citation needed ]

In addition, most four-year colleges are not devoted exclusively or primarily to liberal arts degrees, but offer a liberal arts degree, and allow students not majoring in liberal arts to take courses to satisfy distribution requirements in liberal arts.[ citation needed ]

Traditionally, a bachelor's degree in one particular area within liberal arts, with substantial study outside that main area, is earned over four years of full-time study. However, some universities such as Saint Leo University, [33] Pennsylvania State University, [34] Florida Institute of Technology, [35] and New England College [36] have begun to offer an associate degree in liberal arts. Colleges like the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts offer a unique program with only one degree offering, a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies, while the Harvard Extension School offers both a Bachelor of Liberal Arts and a Master of Liberal Arts. [37] Additionally, colleges like the University of Oklahoma College of Liberal Studies and the Harvard Extension School [37] offer an online, part-time option for adult and nontraditional students.[ citation needed ]

Most students earn either a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of Science [38] degree; on completing undergraduate study, students might progress to either a liberal arts graduate school or a professional school (public administration, engineering, business, law, medicine, theology).[ citation needed ]

Great Books movement

In 1937 St. John's College changed its curriculum to focus on the Great Books of the Western World to provide a new sort of education that separated itself from the increasingly specialized nature of higher schooling. [39]

In Europe

Triumph of St.Thomas & Allegory of the Sciences by Andrea di Bonaluto. Frasco, 1365-68, Basilica di S. Maria Novella. Andrea di bonaiuto, cappellone degli spagnoli 09.jpg
Triumph of St.Thomas & Allegory of the Sciences by Andrea di Bonaluto. Frasco, 1365–68, Basilica di S. Maria Novella.

In most parts of Europe, liberal arts education is deeply rooted. In Germany, Austria and countries influenced by their education system it is called 'humanistische Bildung' (humanistic education). The term is not to be confused with some modern educational concepts that use a similar wording. Educational institutions that see themselves in that tradition are often a Gymnasium (high school, grammar school). They aim at providing their pupils with comprehensive education ( Bildung ) to form personality with regard to a pupil's own humanity as well as their innate intellectual skills.[ citation needed ] Going back to the long tradition of the liberal arts in Europe, education in the above sense was freed from scholastic thinking and re-shaped by the theorists of the Enlightenment; in particular, Wilhelm von Humboldt. Since students are considered to have received a comprehensive liberal arts education at gymnasia, very often the role of liberal arts education in undergraduate programs at universities is reduced compared to the US educational system.[ citation needed ] Students are expected to use their skills received at the gymnasium to further develop their personality in their own responsibility, e.g. in universities' music clubs, theatre groups, language clubs, etc. Universities encourage students to do so and offer respective opportunities but do not make such activities part of the university's curriculum.[ citation needed ]

Thus, on the level of higher education, despite the European origin of the liberal arts college, [40] the term liberal arts college usually denotes liberal arts colleges in the United States.[ citation needed ] With the exception of pioneering institutions such as Franklin University Switzerland (formerly known as Franklin College), established as a Europe-based, US-style liberal arts college in 1969, [41] only recently some efforts have been undertaken to systematically "re-import" liberal arts education to continental Europe, as with Leiden University College The Hague, University College Utrecht, University College Maastricht, Amsterdam University College, Roosevelt Academy (now University College Roosevelt), University College Twente (ATLAS), Erasmus University College, the University of Groningen, Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Central European University, and Bard College Berlin, formerly known as the European College of Liberal Arts. Central European University launched a liberal arts undergraduate degree in Culture, Politics, and Society [42] in 2020 as part of its move to Vienna and accreditation in Austria. As well as the colleges listed above, some universities in the Netherlands offer bachelors programs in Liberal Arts and Sciences (Tilburg University). Liberal arts (as a degree program) is just beginning to establish itself in Europe. For example, University College Dublin offers the degree, as does St. Marys University College Belfast, both institutions coincidentally on the island of Ireland. In the Netherlands, universities have opened constituent liberal arts colleges under the terminology university college since the late 1990s. The four-year bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences at University College Freiburg is the first of its kind in Germany. It started in October 2012 with 78 students. [43] The first Liberal Arts degree program in Sweden was established at Gothenburg University in 2011, [44] followed by a Liberal Arts Bachelor Programme at Uppsala University's Campus Gotland in the autumn of 2013. [45] The first Liberal Arts program in Georgia was introduced in 2005 by American-Georgian Initiative for Liberal Education (AGILE), [46] an NGO. Thanks to their collaboration, Ilia State University [47] became the first higher education institution in Georgia to establish a liberal arts program. [48]

In France, Chavagnes Studium, a Liberal Arts Study Centre in partnership with the Institut Catholique d'études supérieures, and based in a former Catholic seminary, is launching a two-year intensive BA in the Liberal Arts, with a distinctively Catholic outlook. [49] It has been suggested that the liberal arts degree may become part of mainstream education provision in the United Kingdom, Ireland and other European countries. In 1999, the European College of Liberal Arts (now Bard College Berlin) was founded in Berlin [50] and in 2009 it introduced a four-year Bachelor of Arts program in Value Studies taught in English, [51] leading to an interdisciplinary degree in the humanities.[ citation needed ]

In England, the first institution [52] to retrieve and update a liberal arts education at the undergraduate level was the University of Winchester with their BA (Hons) Modern Liberal Arts programme which launched in 2010. [52] In 2012, University College London began its interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences BASc degree (which has kinship with the liberal arts model) with 80 students. [53] In 2013, the University of Birmingham created the School of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences, home of a suite of flexible 4-year programmes in which students study a broad range of subjects drawn from across the university, and gain qualifications including both traditional Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences, but also novel thematic combinations linking both areas. [54] King's College London launched the BA Liberal Arts, which has a slant towards arts, humanities and social sciences subjects. [55] The New College of the Humanities also launched a new liberal education programme. Richmond American University London is a private liberal arts university where all undergraduate degrees are taught with a US liberal arts approach over a four-year programme. Durham University has both a popular BA Liberal Arts and a BA Combined Honours in Social Sciences programme, both of which allow for interdisciplinary approaches to education. The University of Nottingham also has a Liberal Arts BA with study abroad options and links with its Natural Sciences degrees. [56] In 2016, the University of Warwick launched a three/four-year liberal arts BA degree, which focuses on transdisciplinary approaches and problem-based learning techniques in addition to providing structured disciplinary routes and bespoke pathways. [57] And for 2017 entry UCAS lists 20 providers of liberal arts programmes. [58]

In Scotland, the four-year undergraduate Honours degree, specifically the Master of Arts, has historically demonstrated considerable breadth in focus. In the first two years of Scottish MA and BA degrees students typically study a number of different subjects before specialising in their Honours years (third and fourth year). The University of Dundee and the University of Glasgow (at its Crichton Campus) are the only Scottish universities that currently offer a specifically named 'Liberal Arts' degree.[ citation needed ]

In Slovakia, the Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts (BISLA) is located in the Old Town of Bratislava. It is the first liberal arts college in Central Europe. A private, accredited three-year degree-granting undergraduate institution, it opened in September 2006. [59]

In Asia

The Commission on Higher Education of the Philippines mandates a General Education curriculum required of all higher education institutions; it includes a number of liberal arts subjects, including history, art appreciation, and ethics, plus interdisciplinary electives. Many universities have much more robust liberal arts core curricula; most notably, the Jesuit universities such as Ateneo de Manila University have a strong liberal arts core curriculum that includes philosophy, theology, literature, history, and the social sciences. Forman Christian College is a liberal arts university in Lahore, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest institutions in the Indian subcontinent. It is a chartered university recognized by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Aga Khan University offers a worldclass liberal arts education in the arts and sciences in Karachi, Pakistan, and Habib University in Karachi, Pakistan offers a holistic liberal arts and sciences experience to its students through its uniquely tailored liberal core program which is compulsory for all undergraduate degree students. [60] [61]

In India, there are many institutions that offer undergraduate UG or bachelor's degree/diploma and postgraduate PG or master's degree/diploma as well as doctoral PhD and postdoctoral studies and research, in this academic discipline. The highly ranked IIT Guwahati offers a "Master's Degree in Liberal Arts". Manipal Academy of Higher Education – MAHE, an Institution of Eminence as recognised by MHRD of Govt of India in 2018, houses a Faculty of Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and also others like Symbiosis & FLAME University in Pune, Ahmedabad University, and Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU) [62] in Ahmedabad, Ashoka University, and Azim Premji University in Bangalore. Lingnan University, Asian University for Women and University of Liberal Arts- Bangladesh (ULAB) are also a few such liberal arts colleges in Asia. International Christian University in Tokyo is the first and one of the very few liberal arts universities in Japan. Fulbright University Vietnam is the first liberal arts institution in Vietnam.[ citation needed ]

In Australia

Campion College is a Roman Catholic dedicated liberal arts college, located in the western suburbs of Sydney. Founded in 2006, it is the first tertiary educational liberal arts college of its type in Australia. Campion offers a Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts as its sole undergraduate degree. The key disciplines studied are history, literature, philosophy, and theology. [63]

The Millis Institute is the School of Liberal Arts at Christian Heritage College located in Brisbane. Founded by Dr. Ryan Messmore, former President of Campion College, the Millis Institute offers a Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts in which students can choose to major in philosophy, theology, history or literature. It also endorses a 'Study Abroad' program whereby students can earn credit towards their degree by undertaking two units over a five-week program at the University of Oxford. As of 2022, Elizabeth Hillman is currently the President of the Millis Institute. [64]

A new school of Liberal Arts has been formed in the University of Wollongong; the new Arts course entitled 'Western Civilisation' was first offered in 2020. The interdisciplinary curriculum focuses on the classic intellectual and artistic literature of the Western tradition. Courses in the liberal arts have recently been developed at the University of Sydney [65] and the University of Notre Dame. [66]

See also

Citations

  1. "MA Liberal Arts | Course Overview". University of Winchester. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  2. "What is Liberal Arts? – Ancient, Medieval, Modern". Liberal Arts UK. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  3. Kimball, Bruce A. (1995). Orators & philosophers : a history of the idea of liberal education (Expanded ed.). New York: College Entrance Examination Board. ISBN   0-87447-514-7. OCLC   32776486.
  4. Tubbs, Nigel (2014). Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education: Freedom is to Learn. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 1. ISBN   978-1-137-35891-2. OCLC   882530818.
  5. Tubbs, Nigel (2014). Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education: Freedom is to Learn. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 17. ISBN   978-1-137-35891-2. OCLC   882530818.
  6. "Trivium and Quadrivium | The Seven Liberal Arts | Study Liberal Arts". Liberal Arts. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  7. "Philosophy and the Liberal Arts | Essays". Liberal Arts. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  8. Curtius, Ernst Robert (1973) [1948]. European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages . Translated by Trask, Willard R. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p.  37. ISBN   9780691097398. The classical sources include Cicero, De Oratore, I.72–73, III.127, and De re publica, I.30.
  9. Castle, E.B. (1969). Ancient Education and Today. p. 59.
  10. Kimball, Bruce (1995). Orators and Philosophers. New York: College Entrance Examination Board. p. 13
  11. Cicero. De Inventione. Book 1, Section 35
  12. Seneca. Schneider, Ben (ed.). "Epistle". Stoics.com. 88. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  13. 1 2 Lausberg, H. (1998). Handbook of Literary Rhetoric. p. 10.
  14. Waddell, Helen (1968). The Wandering Scholars. p. 25.
  15. "James Burke: The Day the Universe Changed In the Light Of the Above". YouTube . Archived from the original on 23 May 2012.
  16. Wagner, David Leslie (1983). The Seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages. Indiana University Press. ISBN   978-0-253-35185-2 . Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  17. Waddell, Helen (1968). The Wandering Scholars. pp. 141–143.
  18. 1 2 Tidbury, Iain (5 August 2019). "Liberal Arts Education by and for Women". Liberal Arts. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  19. Griffiths, Fiona J. (3 June 2011). The Garden of Delights: Reform and Renaissance for Women in the Twelfth Century. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   9780812202113.
  20. Michael, William (2020). "The Virgin Mary and the Classical Liberal Arts". Classical Liberal Arts Academy.
  21. G. Norton ed., The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism Vol 3 (1999)p. 46 and pp. 601–4
  22. Paul Oskar Kristeller, Renaissance Thought II: Papers on Humanism and the Arts (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1965), p. 178.
  23. Charles G. Nauert, Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe (New Approaches to European History) (Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 172–173.
  24. Bod, Rens; A New History of the Humanities, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014.
  25. Adler, Eric; The Battle of the Classics: How a Nineteenth-Century Debate Can Save the Humanities Today, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020, p. 59.
  26. As quoted in Profiles of educators: Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) by Karl-Heinz Günther (1988), doi:10.1007/BF02192965
  27. Nida-Rümelin, Julian (29 October 2009). "Bologna-Prozess: Die Chance zum Kompromiss ist da". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  28. "curriculum". Georgetown University Doctor of Liberal Studies.
  29. "Graduate Liberal Studies". Wesleyan University (www.wesleyan.edu).
  30. Finn, C.E Jr.; Ravitch, D (2007). Beyond the Basics: Achieving a Liberal Education for All Children. Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
  31. "What is Liberal Arts Education?". Top Universities. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  32. "Defining Liberal Arts Education" (PDF). Wabash College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  33. "Online Liberal Arts Associate Degree". Saint Leo University. Archived from the original on 16 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  34. "Online Associate in Arts in Letters, Arts, and Sciences | Overview". Penn State University. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  35. "Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts – Liberal Arts Degree Online". Florida Institute of Technology. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  36. "Associates in Liberal Studies". New England College.
  37. 1 2 "Harvard Extension School".
  38. For example, Georgia Institute of Technology's bachelor of science degree in Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies http://www.modlangs.gatech.edu Archived 13 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  39. "History - Liberal Arts College - Great Books". St. John's College. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  40. Harriman, Philip L. (1935). "Antecedents of the Liberal-Arts College". The Journal of Higher Education . 6 (2). Ohio State University Press: 63–71. doi:10.2307/1975506. ISSN   1538-4640. JSTOR   1975506.
  41. "About Franklin". Franklin University Switzerland Official Web Site. Franklin University Switzerland. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  42. "Central European University". Bachelors Portal.
  43. "Liberal Arts and Sciences Program (LAS)". University College Freiburg. Archived from the original on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  44. "Liberal Arts, Gothenburg University". Flov.gu.se. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  45. "Liberal Arts Programme at Uppsala University". Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  46. "Agile". Agile.ge. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  47. "ილიაუნი -მთავარი". Iliauni.edu.ge. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  48. "Bachelor Degree". Iliauni. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  49. "The Chavagnes Studium – Catholic Liberal Arts Centre". Chavagnes.org. 10 March 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  50. "Berlin's sturdiest ivory tower". Expatica.com. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  51. "GERMANY: New approach to liberal studies". Universityworldnews.com. 15 March 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  52. 1 2 "It's the breadth that matters". 23 December 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  53. "Arts and Sciences (BASc) programmes". University College London. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  54. "Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences (BASc) programmes". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  55. "KCL – About Liberal Arts" . Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  56. "Liberal Arts programme – BA Hons Y002". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  57. "Liberal Arts". University of Warwick.
  58. "UCAS Search tool – Venue Results". search.ucas.com. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  59. "Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts". Studies in Europe. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  60. "Liberal Classes | Education | Newsline". www.newslinemagazine.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  61. Andrew, Marylou (2015). "Liberal to the core". Aurora. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  62. "Pandit Deendayal Energy University".
  63. "Liberal Arts Education". Campion College. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  64. "Office of the President | Mills College".
  65. "Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science". The University of Sydney. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  66. Dame, Notre (17 April 2018). "Bachelor of Arts (Major: Liberal Arts)". Notre Dame. Retrieved 29 June 2022.

General and cited references

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Educational perennialism is a normative educational philosophy. Perennialists believe that the priority of education should be to teach principles that have persisted for centuries, not facts. Since people are human, one should teach first about humans, rather than machines or techniques, and about liberal, rather than vocational, topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal arts college</span> College with an emphasis on the liberal arts and sciences

A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and general sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional or vocational curriculum. Students in a liberal arts college generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including general sciences as well as the traditional humanities subjects taught as liberal arts. Although it draws on European antecedents, the liberal arts college is strongly associated with American higher education, and most liberal arts colleges around the world draw explicitly on the American model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quadrivium</span> Liberal arts of astronomy, arithmetic, music and geometry

From the time of Plato through the Middle Ages, the quadrivium was a grouping of four subjects or arts—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy—that formed a second curricular stage following preparatory work in the trivium, consisting of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Together, the trivium and the quadrivium comprised the seven liberal arts, and formed the basis of a liberal arts education in Western society until gradually displaced as a curricular structure by the studia humanitatis and its later offshoots, beginning with Petrarch in the 14th century. The seven classical arts were considered "thinking skills" and were distinguished from practical arts, such as medicine and architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trivium</span> The first three liberal arts of classical Greek and Medieval scholastic education

The trivium is the lower division of the seven liberal arts and comprises grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanities</span> Academic disciplines that study society and culture

Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term 'humanities' referred to the study of classical literature and language, as opposed to the study of religion or 'divinity.' The study of the humanities was a key part of the secular curriculum in universities at the time. Today, the humanities are more frequently defined as any fields of study outside of natural sciences, social sciences, formal sciences, and applied sciences. They use methods that are primarily critical, speculative, or interpretative and have a significant historical element—as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postgraduate education</span> Phase of higher education

Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bachelor of Arts</span> Undergraduate degree, usually for the liberal arts

A Bachelor of Arts is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years, depending on the country and institution.

An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The most common undergraduate degree is the bachelor's degree, although some educational systems offer lower-level undergraduate degrees such as associate and foundation degrees. Common postgraduate degrees include engineer's degrees, master's degrees and doctorates.

A bachelor's degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years. The two most common bachelor's degrees are the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and the Bachelor of Science. In some institutions and educational systems, certain bachelor's degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate educations after a first degree has been completed, although more commonly the successful completion of a bachelor's degree is a prerequisite for further courses such as a master's or a doctorate.

The system of academic degrees at the University of Oxford can be confusing. This is not merely because many degree titles date from the Middle Ages, but also because many changes have been haphazardly introduced in recent years. For example, the (medieval) BD, BM, BCL, etc. are postgraduate degrees, while the (modern) MPhys, MEng, etc. are integrated master's degrees, requiring three years of undergraduate study before the postgraduate year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University College Utrecht</span>

University College Utrecht (UCU) provides English-language Liberal Arts and Sciences undergraduate education. Founded in 1998, as the first university college in the Netherlands, it is part of Utrecht University. Around 750 students of 70 different nationalities live and study on campus. Students can design their individual curriculum with courses in one of the three departments: Science, Social Sciences and Humanities.

Literae humaniores, nicknamed classics, is an undergraduate course focused on classics at the University of Oxford and some other universities. The Latin name means literally "more human literature" and was in contrast to the other main field of study when the university began, i.e. res divinae, also known as theology. Lit. hum., is concerned with human learning, and lit. div. with learning treating of God. In its early days, it encompassed mathematics and natural sciences as well. It is an archetypal humanities course.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Aquinas College</span> Catholic liberal arts college in California, U.S.

Thomas Aquinas College is a private Catholic liberal arts college with its main campus in Ventura County, California. A second campus opened in Northfield, Massachusetts in 2018. Its education is based on the Great Books, and students are instructed via the seminar method. It is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.

A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level. In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, schools, or departments, with universities occasionally using a mixture of terminology, e.g., Harvard University has a Faculty of Arts and Sciences and a Law School.

In some Scottish universities, a Master of Arts is the holder of a degree awarded to undergraduates, usually as a first degree. It follows either a three-year general or four-year Honours degree course in humanities or social sciences and is awarded by one of several institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Saint Andrews College</span> Christian college in Idaho

New Saint Andrews College is a private classical Christian college in Moscow, Idaho. It was founded in 1994 by Christ Church, and modeled in part on the curriculum of Harvard College of the seventeenth century. The college offers no undergraduate majors, but follows a single, integrated classical liberal arts curriculum from a Christian worldview in its associate's and bachelor's degree programs. The college also offers master's degrees in theology and letters and classical Christian studies. The New Saint Andrews board, faculty, and staff are confessionally Reformed (Calvinist). Board members are affiliated with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University College Maastricht</span> College in Maastricht, Netherlands

University College Maastricht (UCM) is an English language, internationally oriented, liberal arts and sciences college housed in the 15th century Nieuwenhof monastery in Maastricht, Netherlands. Founded in 2002, it is the second of its kind in the Netherlands. The college is part of Maastricht University and offers a selective honours programme with a high workload. The Dutch Higher Education Guide ranked UCM the best bachelors programme in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2016; in 2012, 2014 and 2015 they ranked UCM the best university college in the Netherlands. In 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2018 Elsevier Magazine ranked UCM the best university college in the Netherlands in terms of student satisfaction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas More College of Liberal Arts</span> Liberal arts college in New Hampshire

The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts is a private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Merrimack, New Hampshire. It emphasizes classical education in the Catholic intellectual tradition and is named after Saint Thomas More. It is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. It is endorsed by The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European Humanities University</span> Private university in Vilnius, Lithuania

European Humanities University is a private, non-profit liberal arts university founded in Minsk, Belarus, in 1992. Following its forced closure by the Belarusian authorities in 2004, EHU relocated to Vilnius (Lithuania) and thus continues its operations as a private university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical education movement</span> Renewal of a traditional liberal arts education

The classical education movement or renewal advocates for a return to a traditional education based on the liberal arts, the canons of classical literature, the fine arts, and the history of civilization. It focuses on human formation and paideia with an early emphasis on music, gymnastics, recitation, imitation, and grammar. Multiple organizations support classical education in charter schools, in independent faith-based schools, and in home education. This movement has inspired several graduate programs and colleges as well as a new peer-reviewed journal, Principia: A Journal of Classical Education.