News & Views item - December 2005

 

 

18 US Universities and Colleges to Participate in National Study of Liberal Arts Education to Investigate Critical Factors Affecting the Outcomes of a Liberal Arts Education. (December 15, 2005)

 Wabash College

    Wabash College is a private, independent, four year liberal arts college for men, granting the Bachelor of Arts degree. Its 850 students are charged an annual tuition fee of US$21,870. It awards degrees in Art, Biology, Chemistry, Classics, Economics, English, French, German, Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Rhetoric, Spanish, and Theatre.

 

Yes, research is undertaken and the students are encouraged to undertake projects. For example the college describes the research for those undertaking the biology course as:

 

Undergraduate research is an important component in the programs of many of our students. In fact, there is an annual celebration of student research projects each year. There are several ways students become involved with research in Biology:

But to get to the College's Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. It is in the process of undertaking "one of the most comprehensive national studies ever conducted of the effects of American higher education on student learning and development."

 

Sixty universities and colleges applied to participate in the study of which18 were chosen as representative.  The participating institutions represent both private and public institutions, liberal arts colleges, community colleges and research universities.

 

In broad terms the four year study of liberal arts education has two fundamental goals: First, to learn what teaching practices, programs and institutional structures support liberal arts education, and second, to develop faculty-friendly and institutionally useful methods of assessing liberal arts education. It will begin with next year's first year students and is intended to follow approximately 5,500 students for at least four years, and the data are to be collected through surveys, interviews, document analysis and focus groups.

 

The director of the study, Charles Blaich, says, "Our research is designed to help colleges and universities improve student learning and enhance the educational impact of their programs. In order to achieve these goals, we are focusing on key liberal arts outcomes, using both quantitative and qualitative research, and examining students as well as institutions. We will examine the impact of study abroad, first-year programs, living and learning communities, teaching quality and organization, student-student interactions and many other aspects of students´ in- and out-of-classroom college experience. The study's findings will help liberal arts colleges and universities document and strengthen the quality of liberal arts education for their students."

 

The liberal arts outcomes on which the study is focusing include: effective reasoning and problem solving; inclination to inquire and lifelong learning; integration of learning; intercultural effectiveness; leadership; moral reasoning and character; and well-being. The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts claims it has identified these as elements when considered together to be distinctive indicators of a liberal arts education and provide students with the necessary skills to construct lives of substance and achievement.

 

 

The fourteen page paper describing the study is available online.