First B.A. in Value Studies uses novel approach to engage future leaders
Those with a diverse, interdisciplinary background are increasingly at an advantage in a changing global economy. To train tomorrow's leaders, the European College of Liberal Arts (ECLA) will offer the first ever 4-year English-language Bachelor of Arts Program in Value Studies beginning October 2009. The program will take a novel approach in both its teaching and curricula.
ECLA Tutorium
The Berlin-based ECLA will be a college without traditional departments dedicated to the study of values. Students will be taught in small classes and in individual tutorials by professors from the fields of philosophy, literature, political theory, art history and film theory. There is a faculty student ratio of 1:7 and students live and study together on a small residential campus created around 8 renovated former GDR embassies.
Additionally, students will have the opportunity to participate in a six-week International Summer University and a one-year program for undergraduates and recent graduates.
Admission will be open to all qualified students worldwide and philanthropic grants will allow admitted students regardless of finances to attend.
The program provides a new and distinct European approach to the humanities and liberal education, beyond the specialized division of knowledge into faculties. The intention is to provide students with a vast knowledge base that is more suited to the rapidly changing knowledge and creative economies.
The program also seeks to encourage a new generation of leaders with a more dynamic, interconnected thinking about global institution building to meet the growing political, economic and social challenges facing the world today.
The program was designed by a young faulty, recruited from some of the world’s best research universities. Students work with faculty from diverse backgrounds to address moral, political, epistemic, religious and aesthetic topics.
Half of their study time is spent in a so-called “core course” that looks at values through an intense study of texts and works of art that impact our morals today. Students can then choose to concentrate on two of the following: art and aesthetics, ethics and political theory, or literature and rhetoric.
The ECLA faculty began a set of curricular experiments in 2002 which have resulted in a reformulation of the classical model, instead teaching a “values-based” approach to liberal education. Questions about justice and truth are placed at the center of the curriculum.
This values-based curriculum brings together academics from diverse backgrounds to teach in a way that is also more flexible than the traditional reading of classical works. The approach is more intercultural and encourages the application of theories into praxis rather than for the academy alone.
The values-based approach to learning is intended to encourage political and cross-cultural dialogue beyond the usual paradigms. It also looks at teaching more than just a student, but citizens in a common world.
The program is especially well-suited for students interested in careers in politics, humanitarian work, public policy law, journalism and the arts. It also provides an excellent foundation for postgraduate study in philosophy, literature, political theory and art history.
The ECLA cooperates with Bennington College in Vermont, Bard College in New York and Bucerius Law School in Hamburg.
www.ecla.de
