Underlying much of what people do in higher education is the often unstated assumption that a college education is a transformative experience. Transformation in a university occurs at all levels--student, faculty, programmatic, institutional, and social. Indeed, Paulo Freire argues that the proper purpose of education is cultural transformation…

Among the distinguishing characteristics of higher education in the United States is the stunning range of founding belief systems and missions. Many of the nation's colleges and universities were created out of passion to educate women, ministers, African Americans, immigrants, the rural poor; to advance causes, to educate within a particular…

In today's competitive college market, "interdisciplinary studies" are a major selling point for colleges and universities. Yet, on closer examination, it is apparent that the academic structure and place of the majority of interdisciplinary programs, departments, and centers are not substantially different from the academic disciplines,…

In this article, the author discusses how it is time for higher education to think seriously about alternatives to the traditional undergraduate "major," which, in the large majority of cases, tends to be focused on just a single field of inquiry. The author observes that the current idea of a major (or minor) subject may have made more sense in a…

What the author explores in this essay is not so much the "whether" of general science education, but the "why." What exactly constitutes good science education, and how can one recognize when students have received it? Once this question has been answered, the answer to the "what" question--the actual content of the curriculum--is relatively easy…

Are new approaches to transforming undergraduate learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) making a difference? If so, how? How do people know? And what next? These are the questions explored in a 1999 report from Project Kaleidoscope, which concluded by making predictions and recommendations for the coming decade. Now…

As the research interests and the focus of traditional earth scientists are transformed, so too must education in earth system science at colleges and universities across the country change. The required change involves not only the methods used to teach this new science, but also the essential place of the earth sciences in the panoply of…

Technological advances have made research-based learning possible now in ways that were unimaginable in previous generations. Such learning can and, the authors argue, should be at the center of the undergraduate experience. In this article, the authors describe an approach that combines research-based learning with student development theory to…

In this article, the author calls for a "campaign" because she believes there is a need to build upon the successes of diversity initiatives with renewed commitment, in much the same way as capital campaigns build upon past successes and refocus campuses on their work. Just as a capital campaign invests in financial stability by stimulating…

As crucial stakeholders in higher education, employers have long requested, demanded, and implored that colleges and universities help students develop the team skills needed to address challenges posed by innovation. Employers seek college graduates who, in the face of persistent ambiguity and within increasingly complex environments, are able to…

This article discusses the creation, through what is known as the Bologna Process, of a European Higher Education Area within which the comparability of quality assurance and degree standards is intended to facilitate greater academic mobility. The Bologna Process is a huge undertaking. Its action lines include revising degree cycles, establishing…

Given a reasonable resolve to learn from the best that the Bologna Process has to offer, the author contends that one might also respond to the challenge it offers by standing up for the singular strengths of U.S. higher education: (1) long-standing commitment to broad access; (2) embrace of diversity as an educational good; and, most notably, (3)…

In this article, the author is concerned about the potential for increased stratification. As he considers the recent phenomenon of "branding," whereby efforts to enhance reputation and prestige culminate in the creation of the "celebrity university," the author notes the irony that even as the branded institutions declare their commitment to…

This article discusses the ongoing effort of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to bring higher education services within the purview of the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS). One result of the anticipated liberalization of trade in education, the author explains, is the headlong rush of Anglophone universities into the global market…

Founded on the premise of a connection between the neglect of the core purposes of undergraduate liberal education, on the one hand, and certain patterns of disengagement exhibited by students, on the other, the Bringing Theory to Practice project provides support for campus programs as well as for research on the connection of certain forms of…