Liberal Education Talk: Liberal arts in Siberia? From dilemmas to experiments
18. Nov
On November 18th 2020 there will be the second Liberal Education talk from 4 to 5.30 pm on Zoom.
The School of Advanced Studies (SAS) at the University of Tyumen (Russia) is a recent incarnation of a liberal arts ideal. Designed as an honors college and interdisciplinary research center, it offers a sizeable core curriculum, thoroughly international faculty teaching in English, as well as seven majors spanning arts and humanities, biology, social sciences, and IT. As greenfield institution within a public higher education system, SAS raises many questions: How can a liberal arts institution avoid becoming a mini-university? What happens when the initial design meets the reality? Can the limitations of the liberal arts model ever be overcome?
This LET will focus on five strategic dilemmas ahead of SAS: concerning choice, outcomes, language, position, and organisation. Those dilemmas are to some extent familiar to most European liberal arts institutions but at SAS have a distinctive Russian flavour. Institutional perceptions of such dilemmas necessarily differ from the student experience. This parallax opens a possibility for a dynamic view of higher education, where liberal arts is no longer treated as a “model” to “implement” but rather as a calling for a constant, profound innovation.
Daniel Kontowski is the Head of Education at the School of Advanced Studies, University of Tyumen (Russia). His research explores multiple interpretations of contemporary liberal arts education across Europe. In 2020 he launched an MA in Experimental Higher Education at SAS.
Liberal Education Talk | 18.11.2020 | 16:00-17:30 on Zoom
If you are interested to join this talk, please register via: studium.individuale@leuphana.de