Liberal arts education#history

{{Short description|Traditional academic course in Western higher education}}

File:Hortus Deliciarum, Die Philosophie mit den sieben freien Künsten.JPG}} of Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)]]

Liberal arts education ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|liberalis}}|free||{{wikt-lang|la|ars}}|art or principled practice}}){{cite web |title=MA Liberal Arts {{!}} Course Overview |url=https://winchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/ma-liberal-arts |access-date=2022-02-06 |website=University of Winchester |language=en-GB}} is a traditional academic course in Western higher education.{{cite web |url=https://liberalarts.org.uk/liberal-arts |title=What is Liberal Arts? – Ancient, Medieval, Modern |website=Liberal Arts UK |access-date=2018-06-04}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Liberal Arts |url=https://admission.princeton.edu/academics/what-does-liberal-arts-mean}}

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. Since the late 1990s, major universities have gradually dropped the term liberal arts from their curriculum or created schools for liberal art disciplines to categorize programs outside of science and technology. Common rebrandings for liberal arts colleges and schools include: arts and social sciences, arts and sciences and humanities. The name changing at American institutions comes as the result of modern statistics suggesting a Liberal Arts degree offers graduates a considerably lower income when compared to science and technology graduates.{{cite web |title=University works to revive liberal arts as a key part of the college experience |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/classroom/daily-news-lessons/2024/10/university-works-to-revive-liberal-arts-as-key-part-of-the-college-experience |website=pbs.org |publisher=public broadcasting system |access-date=1 November 2024}}{{cite web |title=Field of degree: Liberal arts |url=https://www.bls.gov/ooh/field-of-degree/liberal-arts/liberal-arts-field-of-degree.htm |website=bls.gov/ |publisher=Bureau of Labor and Statistics |access-date=1 November 2024}}{{Cite web |title=What does Liberal Arts Mean? |url=https://www.topuniversities.com/blog/what-liberal-arts-education}} Despite the rebranding, liberal arts degrees from today's universities and colleges traditionally include the following disciplines: Anthropology, English, Literature, Fine arts, Foreign languages, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Music, Journalism, Economics, Law, Communications, Architecture, Creative arts, Art, and History. Degrees in Liberal studies are often confused with those in a liberal arts discipline. Liberal studies refers to degrees with a broad curriculum, across multiple liberal arts disciplines or sciences and technologies.

History

Before they became known by their Latin variations ({{lang|la|artes liberales}}, {{lang|la|septem artes liberales}}, {{lang|la|studia liberalia}}),{{Cite book|last=Kimball |first=Bruce A. |title=Orators & philosophers: a history of the idea of liberal education |date=1995|publisher=College Entrance Examination Board|isbn=0-87447-514-7|edition=Expanded|location=New York|oclc=32776486}} the liberal arts were the continuation of Ancient Greek methods of inquiry that began with a "desire for a universal understanding."{{Cite book|last=Tubbs|first=Nigel|title=Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education: Freedom is to Learn |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2014|isbn=978-1-137-35891-2|location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire|page=1|oclc=882530818}} 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".{{Cite book|last=Tubbs|first=Nigel|title=Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education: Freedom is to Learn |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2014|isbn=978-1-137-35891-2|location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire|pages=17|oclc=882530818}} In the 4th-century-BC Athens, the government of the polis, or city-state, respected the ability of rhetoric or public speaking above almost everything else.{{Cite web|url=https://liberalarts.online/trivium-and-quadrivium/|title=Trivium and Quadrivium {{!}} The Seven Liberal Arts {{!}} Study Liberal Arts|website=Liberal Arts|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-25}} Eventually rhetoric, grammar, and dialectic (logic) became the educational programme of the trivium. Together they came to be known as the seven liberal arts.{{Cite web|url=https://www.liberalarts.org.uk/philosophy-and-the-liberal-arts/|title=Philosophy and the Liberal Arts {{!}} Essays|date=2020-01-25|website=Liberal Arts|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-25}} Originally these subjects or skills were held by classical antiquity to be essential for a free person ({{lang|la|liberalis}}, "worthy of a free person"){{cite book |author=Curtius, Ernst Robert |title=European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages |url=https://archive.org/details/europeanliteratu0000curt |url-access=registration |orig-year=1948 |translator=Trask, Willard R. |location=Princeton |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1973 |page=[https://archive.org/details/europeanliteratu0000curt/page/37 37] |isbn=9780691097398 |quote=The classical sources include Cicero, De Oratore, I.72–73, III.127, and De re publica, I.30.}} 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.{{cite book |author=Castle, E.B. |title=Ancient Education and Today |year=1969 |page=59}}

File:Maerten de Vos - Allegory of the liberal arts.jpg]]

Rooted in the basic curriculum – the {{transliteration|grc|eukuklios paideia}} or "well-rounded education" – of late Classical and Hellenistic Greece, the "liberal arts" or "liberal pursuits" (Latin {{lang|la|liberalia studia}}) were already called so in formal education during the Roman Empire. The first recorded use of the term "liberal arts" ({{lang|la|artes liberales}}) occurs in {{lang|la|De Inventione}} by Marcus Tullius Cicero, but it is unclear if he created the term.Kimball, Bruce (1995). Orators and Philosophers. New York: College Entrance Examination Board. p. 13Cicero. De Inventione. Book 1, Section 35 Seneca the Younger discusses liberal arts in education from a critical Stoic point of view in Moral Epistles.{{cite web |editor-first=Ben |editor-last=Schneider |url=http://www.stoics.com/seneca_epistles_book_2.html#%E2%80%98LXXXVIII1 |author=Seneca |title=Epistle |id=88 |publisher=Stoics.com |access-date=26 August 2013}} The exact classification of the liberal arts varied however in Roman times,{{cite book |author=Lausberg, H. |title=Handbook of Literary Rhetoric |year=1998 |page=10}} 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,{{cite book |author=Waddell, Helen |title=The Wandering Scholars |year=1968 |page=25}} that they took on canonical form.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The four "scientific" {{lang|la|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. It was in that two-fold form that the seven liberal arts were studied in the medieval Western university.{{cite web | title = James Burke: The Day the Universe Changed In the Light Of the Above|website = YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgXzwOV-WNI&t=02m26s| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523083401/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgXzwOV-WNI&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2012-05-23}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfQ2AAAAIAAJ|title=The Seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages |last=Wagner |first=David Leslie |publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1983 |isbn=978-0-253-35185-2 |access-date=5 January 2013}} During the Middle Ages, logic gradually came to take predominance over the other parts of the trivium.{{cite book |author=Waddell, Helen |title=The Wandering Scholars |year=1968 |pages=141–143}}

In the 12th century the iconic image – {{Lang|la|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 {{lang|la|Hortus deliciarum}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.liberalarts.org.uk/liberal-arts-education-by-and-for-women/|title=Liberal Arts Education by and for Women|last=Tidbury|first=Iain|date=5 August 2019|website=Liberal Arts|access-date=5 August 2019}} 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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9dIt61QpOoC&q=The+Garden+of+Delights:+Reform+and+Renaissance+for+Women+in+the+Twelfth+Century|title=The Garden of Delights: Reform and Renaissance for Women in the Twelfth Century|last=Griffiths|first=Fiona J.|date=3 June 2011|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812202113|language=en}} 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 {{Lang|la|Septem Artes Liberales}} or Seven Liberal Arts. Each of these arts find their source in the Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom". 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."{{Cite web|last=Michael|first=William|date=2025|title=Did the Virgin Mary Know the Classical Liberal Arts?|url=https://classicalliberalarts.com/blog/did-the-blessed-virgin-mary-know-the-classical-liberal-arts/|website=Classical Liberal Arts Academy}} File:Gherardo di giovannid el fora, musica, in marziano capella de nuptiis philologiae et mercurii, ms. urb lat 329 f 149v bibl ap vat.jpg]]

In the Renaissance, the Italian humanists and their Northern counterparts, despite in many respects continuing the traditions of the Middle Ages, reversed that process.G. Norton ed., The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism Vol 3 (1999)p. 46 and pp. 601–4 Re-christening the old trivium with a new and more ambitious name: {{lang|la|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.Paul Oskar Kristeller, Renaissance Thought II: Papers on Humanism and the Arts (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1965), p. 178. 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.Charles G. Nauert, Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe (New Approaches to European History) (Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 172–173. 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.Bod, Rens; A New History of the Humanities, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014.Adler, Eric; The Battle of the Classics: How a Nineteenth-Century Debate Can Save the Humanities Today, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020, p. 59.

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:

{{blockquote|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.As quoted in Profiles of educators: Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) by Karl-Heinz Günther (1988), {{doi|10.1007/BF02192965}}}}

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".{{Cite news|url=http://www.zeit.de/2009/45/Bachelor-Kritik|title=Bologna-Prozess: Die Chance zum Kompromiss ist da|last=Nida-Rümelin|first=Julian|date=29 October 2009|work=Die Zeit|language=de|access-date=29 November 2015}}

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:

Life science (biology, neuroscience)
Physical science (physics, astronomy, physical geography, chemistry, earth science)
Formal science (logic, mathematics, statistics)
Humanities (philosophy, history, english literature, the arts)
Social science (economics, political science, human geography, linguistics, anthropology, psychology, sociology)

For example, the core courses for Georgetown University's Doctor of Liberal Studies program{{cite web |department=Georgetown University Doctor of Liberal Studies |title=curriculum |url=http://scs.georgetown.edu/departments/6/doctor-of-liberal-studies/about-the-program/curriculum#curriculum}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.wesleyan.edu/masters/index.html |title=Graduate Liberal Studies |publisher=Wesleyan University (www.wesleyan.edu)}}

Secondary school

Liberal arts education at the secondary school level prepares students for higher education at a university.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}{{Cite book |last1=Finn |first1=C.E Jr. |title=Beyond the Basics: Achieving a Liberal Education for All Children |last2=Ravitch |first2=D |publisher=Thomas B. Fordham Institute |year=2007}}

Curricula differ from school to school, but generally include language, chemistry, biology, geography, art, mathematics, music, history, philosophy, civics, social sciences, and foreign languages.{{Cite web |title=What is Liberal Arts Education? |url=https://www.topuniversities.com/blog/what-liberal-arts-education |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Top Universities |language=en}}

In the United States

{{further|Liberal arts colleges in the United States|Creative arts}}

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

In the United States, liberal arts colleges are schools emphasizing undergraduate study in the liberal arts.{{cite web|title=Defining Liberal Arts Education|url=http://www.liberalarts.wabash.edu/storage/Defining_Liberal_Education.pdf|publisher=Wabash College|access-date=9 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021110926/http://www.liberalarts.wabash.edu/storage/Defining_Liberal_Education.pdf|archive-date=21 October 2012|url-status=dead}} 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.{{Cite journal |last=Cech |first=Thomas R. |date=1999 |title=Science at Liberal Arts Colleges: A Better Education? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027545 |journal=Daedalus |volume=128 |issue=1 |pages=195–216 |jstor=20027545 |issn=0011-5266}}

In addition, most four-year colleges are not devoted exclusively or primarily to liberal arts degrees, and offer STEM programs. In fact, STEM graduates at liberal arts colleges have been demonstrated to be more likely to apply to graduate school in STEM than their peers and make up a higher proportion of National Academy of Science members than would usually be expected for the number of STEM graduates produced by an institution.{{Cite journal |last=Banschbach |first=Valerie S. |date=2016-06-01 |title=Small Liberal Arts Colleges Foster Success in STEM and Entomology |url=https://academic.oup.com/ae/article/62/2/125/1751619 |journal=American Entomologist |language=en |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=125–126 |doi=10.1093/ae/tmw032 |issn=2155-9902}}

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,{{cite web |url=http://online.saintleo.edu/academics/associate-programs/liberal-arts.aspx |title=Online Liberal Arts Associate Degree |publisher=Saint Leo University |access-date=26 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816075739/http://online.saintleo.edu/academics/associate-programs/liberal-arts.aspx |archive-date=16 August 2013 |url-status=dead }} Pennsylvania State University,{{cite web|url=https://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates/letters-arts-and-sciences-associates/overview |title=Online Associate in Arts in Letters, Arts, and Sciences | Overview |publisher=Penn State University |access-date=26 August 2013}} Florida Institute of Technology,{{cite web|url=http://www.floridatechonline.com/undergraduate-aa-liberal-arts-degree/ |title=Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts – Liberal Arts Degree Online |publisher=Florida Institute of Technology |access-date=26 August 2013}} and New England College{{cite web|title=Associates in Liberal Studies|url=http://www.newenglandcollegeonline.com/associates-degree-liberal-studies/|publisher=New England College|access-date=14 May 2013|archive-date=25 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325102042/http://www.newenglandcollegeonline.com/associates-degree-liberal-studies/|url-status=dead}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://extension.harvard.edu|title=Harvard Extension School}} Additionally, colleges like the University of Oklahoma College of Liberal Studies and the Harvard Extension School offer an online, part-time option for adult and nontraditional students.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Most students earn either a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of ScienceFor example, Georgia Institute of Technology's bachelor of science degree in Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies http://www.modlangs.gatech.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113075735/http://www.modlangs.gatech.edu/ |date=13 January 2015 }} degree.

= Great Books movement =

In 1937 St. John's College radically shifted its curriculum to focus on the Great Books of the Western World, aiming to provide a form of liberal arts education that stood apart from increasingly specialized nature of higher education.{{Cite web|title=History - Liberal Arts College - Great Books |url=https://www.sjc.edu/about/history|access-date=2021-03-20|publisher=St. John's College |language=en}} This new approach emphasized a broad-based education rooted in classical texts from philosophy, literature, science, and other disciplines, in contrast to the growing trend toward technical and vocational training in universities.

In 1952, Encyclopædia Britannica published a 54 volume set titled the Great Books of the Western World under the direction of Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler. This monumental work was designed to serve as a comprehensive anthology of the foundational texts of Western civilization, spanning authors from Homer and Plato to Shakespeare and Newton. The collection aimed to promote critical thinking and engagement with the ideas that have shaped Western thought. In 1990, a second edition was released, expanding the collection to 60 volumes and updating its content to reflect more contemporary works and scholarship.

In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in the Great Books and the broader Liberal Arts tradition within some contemporary Muslim educational institutions. Notably, neo-traditional Muslim scholars like Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad (also known as Tim Winter) have advocated for incorporating the study of these classical works into the curriculum. These scholars emphasize that Muslims historically engaged deeply with the classical liberal arts, particularly the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), both of which are foundational to the Western liberal arts tradition.

Institutions like Zaytuna College in the United States and the Cambridge Muslim College in the United Kingdom have integrated elements of the Great Books and the liberal arts into their educational models, fostering a greater appreciation for the interconnectedness of intellectual traditions across cultures. These colleges encourage students to study classical Islamic texts alongside Western works, fostering a holistic education that draws on both Islamic and Western intellectual heritage. The engagement with the trivium and quadrivium in these institutions highlights the enduring value of liberal arts education, not only in Western contexts but also within broader, more global educational traditions.

In Europe

File:Andrea di bonaiuto, cappellone degli spagnoli 09.jpg & 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|date=April 2016}} 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|date=April 2016}} 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|date=April 2016}}

Thus, on the level of higher education, despite the European origin of the liberal arts college,{{cite journal

|title = Antecedents of the Liberal-Arts College

|last = Harriman

|first = Philip L.

|journal = The Journal of Higher Education

|publisher = Ohio State University Press

|issn = 1538-4640

|volume = 6

|issue = 2

|year = 1935

|pages = 63–71

|doi = 10.2307/1975506

|jstor = 1975506

}} the term liberal arts college usually denotes liberal arts colleges in the United States.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} 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,{{cite web|url=http://www.fus.edu/about-franklin/ |title=About Franklin |work=Franklin University Switzerland Official Web Site |publisher=Franklin University Switzerland |access-date=3 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408064857/http://www.fus.edu/about-franklin |archive-date=8 April 2014 }} 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{{Cite web |date=2020-11-18 |title=Bachelor of Arts in Culture, Politics and Society {{!}} CEU Undergraduate Studies |url=https://undergraduate.ceu.edu/bachelor-degree-culture-politics-society |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=CEU Undergraduate |language=en}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.ucf.uni-freiburg.de/las |title=Liberal Arts and Sciences Program (LAS) |publisher=University College Freiburg |access-date=26 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820031719/http://www.ucf.uni-freiburg.de/las |archive-date=20 August 2013 }} The first Liberal Arts degree program in Sweden was established at Gothenburg University in 2011,{{cite web|url=http://www.flov.gu.se/utbildning/grundniva/liberal-arts/|title=Liberal Arts, Gothenburg University|date=22 May 2013|publisher=Flov.gu.se|access-date=26 August 2013|archive-date=2 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102031149/http://www.flov.gu.se/utbildning/grundniva/liberal-arts/|url-status=dead}} followed by a Liberal Arts Bachelor Programme at Uppsala University's Campus Gotland in the autumn of 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.uu.se/utbildning/utbildningar/selma/program/?pKod=HLA1K&lasar=13%2F14 |title=Liberal Arts Programme at Uppsala University |access-date=29 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630163906/http://www.uu.se/utbildning/utbildningar/selma/program/?pKod=HLA1K&lasar=13%2F14 |archive-date=30 June 2017 |url-status=dead }} The first Liberal Arts program in Georgia was introduced in 2005 by American-Georgian Initiative for Liberal Education (AGILE),{{cite web|url=http://agile.ge/|title=Agile|publisher=Agile.ge|access-date=26 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006101220/http://agile.ge/|archive-date=6 October 2013|url-status=dead}} an NGO. Thanks to their collaboration, Ilia State University{{cite web|url=http://www.iliauni.edu.ge/|title=ილიაუნი -მთავარი|publisher=Iliauni.edu.ge|access-date=26 August 2013}} became the first higher education institution in Georgia to establish a liberal arts program.{{cite web|url=http://www.iliauni.edu.ge/index.php?sec_id=141&lang_id=ENG|title=Bachelor Degree|publisher=Iliauni|access-date=26 August 2013}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.chavagnes.org/studium |title=The Chavagnes Studium – Catholic Liberal Arts Centre |publisher=Chavagnes.org |date=10 March 2018 |access-date=20 September 2018 |archive-date=3 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003132808/http://chavagnes.org/studium/ |url-status=dead }} 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{{cite web|url=http://www.expatica.com/de/education/higher_education/berlins-sturdiest-ivory-tower-8661_10047.html?ppager=0|title=Berlin's sturdiest ivory tower|publisher=Expatica.com|access-date=26 August 2013}} and in 2009 it introduced a four-year Bachelor of Arts program in Value Studies taught in English,{{cite web|url=http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090313110639526|title=GERMANY: New approach to liberal studies|date=15 March 2009|publisher=Universityworldnews.com|access-date=26 August 2013}} leading to an interdisciplinary degree in the humanities.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In England, the first institution{{cite web|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/its-the-breadth-that-matters/414650.article|title=It's the breadth that matters|date=23 December 2010|access-date=13 September 2016}} to retrieve and update a liberal arts education at the undergraduate level was the University of Winchester with their BA (Hons) Modern Liberal Arts program which launched in 2010. In 2012, University College London began its interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences BASc degree (which has kinship with the liberal arts model) with 80 students.{{cite web |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/basc |title=Arts and Sciences (BASc) programs |publisher=University College London |access-date=26 August 2013}} In 2013, the University of Birmingham created the School of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences, home of a suite of flexible 4-year programs 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/liberal-arts-and-sciences/index.aspx |title=Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences (BASc) programs |publisher=University of Birmingham |access-date=13 June 2022}} King's College London launched the BA Liberal Arts, which has a slant towards arts, humanities and social sciences subjects.{{cite web|title=KCL – About Liberal Arts|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/liberal/index.aspx|access-date=15 January 2014}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/go/liberalarts|title=Liberal Arts programme – BA Hons Y002|publisher=University of Nottingham|access-date=4 April 2018}}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 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.{{cite web |title=Liberal Arts |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/liberalarts |publisher=University of Warwick}} And for 2017 entry UCAS lists 20 providers of liberal arts programmes.{{cite web|url=http://search.ucas.com/search/providers?CountryCode=&RegionCode=&Lat=&Lng=&Feather=&Vac=1&AvailableIn=2017&Query=Liberal+Arts&ProviderQuery=&AcpId=&Location=&IsFeatherProcessed=True&SubjectCode=|title=UCAS Search tool – Venue Results|website=search.ucas.com|access-date=13 September 2016}}

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|date=January 2021}}

The Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts (BISLA), a private institution located in the Old Town of Bratislava, Slovakia, is the first liberal arts college in Central Europe and has been granting three-year degrees since its opening in September 2006.{{Cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.bisla.sk/about-us/ |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=BISLA |language=en-US}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.newslinemagazine.com/2014/12/liberal-classes/ |title=Liberal Classes | Education | Newsline |website=www.newslinemagazine.com |access-date=2 February 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150210041433/http://www.newslinemagazine.com/2014/12/liberal-classes/ |archive-date=10 February 2015 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |first=Marylou |last=Andrew |url=http://aurora.dawn.com/2014/03/01/liberal-to-the-core/ |title=Liberal to the core |date=2015 |website=Aurora |access-date=24 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402183811/http://aurora.dawn.com/2014/03/01/liberal-to-the-core/ |archive-date=2 April 2015 }}

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 {{cite web|url=https://www.iitg.ac.in/hss/course-details.php?slno=RnUrSzB1cnpWMHRFL01Bc2s5QXVVUT09&crs=%20Master%20of%20Liberal%20Arts | title=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) {{cite web | url=https://www.pdpu.ac.in/liberal.html | title=Pandit Deendayal Energy University }} 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.{{Cite web |title=Fulbright University Vietnam Growth and Sustainability |url=https://www.usaid.gov/vietnam/fact-sheets/fulbright-university-vietnam-fuv-support#:~:text=Launched%20in%202016%2C%20Fulbright%20University,in%20Vietnam's%20culture%20and%20heritage. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316141000/https://www.usaid.gov/vietnam/fact-sheets/fulbright-university-vietnam-fuv-support |archive-date=16 March 2023 |access-date=5 September 2024 |website=USAID}}

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.{{Cite web|title=Liberal Arts Education|url=https://www.campion.edu.au/liberal-arts-education/|access-date=2021-02-12|website=Campion College|language=en-AU}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mills.edu/uniquely-mills/leadership-team/office-of-the-president/index.php|title = Office of the President | Mills College}}

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{{Cite web |title=Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science |url=https://www.sydney.edu.au/courses/courses/uc/bachelor-of-liberal-arts-and-science0.html |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=The University of Sydney |language=en-AU}} and the University of Notre Dame.{{Cite web |last=Dame |first=Notre |date=2018-04-17 |title=Bachelor of Arts (Major: Liberal Arts) |url=https://www.notredame.edu.au/programs/sydney/school-of-arts-and-sciences/undergraduate/bachelor-of-arts-major-liberal-arts |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=Notre Dame |language=en}}

Citations

General and cited references

{{cite book |author=Castle, E.B. |title=Ancient Education and Today |year=1969}}
{{cite book |author=Curtius, Ernst Robert |title=European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages |url=https://archive.org/details/europeanliteratu0000curt |url-access=registration |orig-year=1948 |translator=Trask, Willard R. |location=Princeton |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1973|isbn=9780691097398 }}
{{cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Fiona J. |year=2011 |title=The Garden of Delights: Reform and Renaissance for Women in the Twelfth Century |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=9780812202113}}
Kimball, Bruce A. Orators and Philosophers: A History of the Idea of Liberal Education. College Board, 1995.
{{cite book |author=Lausberg, H. |title=Handbook of Literary Rhetoric |year=1998}}
{{cite web|last=Michael|first=William|date=2020|title=The Virgin Mary and the Classical Liberal Arts|url=https://classicalliberalarts.com/blog/the-virgin-mary-and-the-classical-liberal-arts/|website=Classical Liberal Arts Academy}}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{cite web |last=Tidbury |first=Iain|date=5 August 2019 |title=Liberal Arts Education by and for Women |url=https://www.liberalarts.org.uk/liberal-arts-education-by-and-for-women/ |website=Liberal Arts|access-date=5 August 2019}}
{{cite book |last=Tubbs |first=Nigel |title=Philosophy and Modern Liberal Arts Education: Freedom is to Learn |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-137-35891-2 |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire |oclc=882530818}}
{{cite book |author=Waddell, Helen |title=The Wandering Scholars |year=1968}}
{{cite book |last=Wagner |first=David Leslie |title=The Seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-253-35185-2}}

External links

{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Arts, Liberal|year=1905 |short=x}} Definition and short history of the Seven Liberal Arts from 1905.
Fr. Herve de la Tour, [https://web.archive.org/web/20031016100715/http://www.edocere.org/articles/7_liberal_arts.htm "The Seven Liberal Arts"], Edocere, a Resource for Catholic Education, February 2002. Thomas Aquinas's definition of and justification for a liberal arts education.
Otto Willmann. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01760a.htm "The Seven Liberal Arts"]. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. Retrieved 13 August 2012. "[Renaissance] Humanists, over-fond of change, unjustly condemned the system of the seven liberal arts as barbarous. It is no more barbarous than the Gothic style, a name intended to be a reproach. The Gothic, built up on the conception of the old basilica, ancient in origin, yet Christian in character, was misjudged by the Renaissance on account of some excrescences, and obscured by the additions engrafted upon it by modern lack of taste… That the achievements of our forefathers should be understood, recognized, and adapted to our own needs, is surely to be desired."
Andrew Chrucky (1 September 2003). [http://www.ditext.com/chrucky/aim.html "The Aim of Liberal Education"]. "The content of a liberal education should be moral problems as provided by history, anthropology, sociology, economics, and politics. And these should be discussed along with a reflection on the nature of morality and the nature of discussions, i.e., through a study of rhetoric and logic. Since discussion takes place in language, an effort should be made to develop a facility with language."
[http://www.ditext.com/libed/libed.html "Philosophy of Liberal Education"] A bibliography, compiled by Andrew Chrucky, with links to essays offering different points of view on the meaning of a liberal education.
Mark Peltz, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120813231815/http://collegenews.org/editorials/2012/the-liberal-arts-and-leadership.html "The Liberal Arts and Leadership"], College News (The Annapolis Group), 14 May 2012. A defense of liberal education by the Associate Dean of Grinnell College (first appeared in Inside Higher Ed).
[http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-1/liberal.htm "Liberal Arts at the Community College"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128185539/http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-1/liberal.htm |date=28 November 2020 }}, an ERIC Fact Sheet. ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges Los Angeles
[http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-926/liberal.htm "A Descriptive Analysis of the Community College Liberal Arts Curriculum"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128192844/http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-926/liberal.htm |date=28 November 2020 }}. ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges Los Angeles
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120821025525/http://www.liberalarts.wabash.edu/wabash-study-2010-overview/ The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts.] Website about The Wabash Study (for improving liberal education). Sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College (Indiana), the Wabash Study began in the fall of 2010 – scheduled to end in 2013. Participants include 29 prominent colleges and universities.
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040925061822/http://www.academiccommons.org/ Academic Commons]}}. An online platform in support of the liberal education community. It is a forum for sharing practices, outcomes, and lessons learned of online learning. Formerly sponsored by the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, The Academic Commons is hosted by the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education ([http://www.nitle.org "NITLE".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302155911/http://www.nitle.org/ |date=2 March 2018 }}).
[https://web.archive.org/web/20100618033752/http://www.liberalartsadvantage.com/what-are-the-liberal-arts/ The Liberal Arts Advantage – for Business]. Website dedicated to "Bridging the gap between business and the liberal arts". "A liberal arts education is aimed at developing the ability to think, reason, analyze, decide, discern, and evaluate. That's in contrast to a professional or technical education (business, engineering, computer science, etc.) which develops specific abilities aimed at preparing students for vocations."
[http://mla.winchester.ac.uk Video explanation by Professor Nigel Tubbs of liberal arts curriculum and degree requirements of Winchester University, UK.]. "Liberal arts education (Latin: liberalis, free, and ars, art or principled practice) involves us in thinking philosophically across many subject boundaries in the humanities, the social and natural sciences, and fine arts. The degree combines compulsory modules covering art, religion, literature, science and the history of ideas with a wide range of optional modules. This enables students to have flexibility and control over their programme of study and the content of their assessments."