MOSCOW, June 11, 2014 /Press service of RANEPA/ -- For Russian education, this is a new format, in contrast to the traditional model, in which a student, at the time of admission, must clearly know what he wants to be after graduating from university. Schools that provide career guidance work towards this, and faculties are proud of this, focusing vocational training as much as possible from the very beginning of training. This, of course, has its advantages, but the Liberal Arts (LA) program goes in a slightly different direction and is focused on the fact that the student has the right to prepare for an informed choice based on serious humanitarian training. Interdisciplinary education is indispensable for this, in which good management is connected with literature, and good PR is connected with history.
The main idea is that the student has time and opportunity for self-determination with the help of teachers and experienced tutors. This seems relevant in a global sense, since the labor market today is extremely volatile and the very concept of “work in a specialty” is generally dying out. The more active and ambitious today's university graduate is, the sooner he will have to work in areas that we are not even aware of today. Career guidance in this situation is not entirely relevant; something else is “working” here.
How does LA “respond” to the changing labor market situation? In the first year and a half, all RANEPA students studying in this program study the same set of disciplines, regardless of which Unified State Examination they entered the program with. 70% of these are humanities and social sciences, and this is important because LA has a strong humanities base. From the first year, everyone, without exception, studies two foreign languages in the same amount (English is the main language, plus a second language of the student’s choice). The program contains unique courses that are not included in any other higher education program in Russia. For example, the "Introduction to Critical Thinking" course or the "Great Books" course, which runs all four years and does not depend on the chosen major in the LA program. "Great books" is a very important component of the program, because... students learn to read classical texts and engage in global intellectual traditions.
Another important principle of LA education is interdisciplinarity. For example, at the end of the first year, students in the program write an interdisciplinary translation essay. This work assesses the ability to meaningfully “combine” knowledge of history, the Russian language and critical thinking, and draw reasoned conclusions. The curriculum for second-year students includes interdisciplinary course work, where students master skills in working with several aspects of a chosen topic: for example, to show an understanding of the connection between an economic problem and social and political factors or to study the dependence of sociological processes on economic trends in the development of society.
In the middle of the second year, students choose their main training profile - major. By this point, students have matured, they already understand what it means to study at a university, and can make informed choices. By the time a student chooses an additional major (minor) in the third year, he understands what competencies he needs to “acquire” in order to be successful upon graduation. The principle here is this: if the major is offered in an applied field (management or PR), then the minor is offered in the humanities (political science, sociology or law). Or vice versa: a student takes a fundamental major (for example, in history or oriental studies), and a minor is offered in an applied one (journalism or urban studies). Thus, education becomes balanced.
Formally, upon admission, a student must enroll in some major, choose some direction of training, but from the point of view of the content of education before being divided into profiles, this practically does not matter and is not the final choice of profession. But this allows the applicant to choose the set of Unified State Exams that is convenient for him to take. For example, it may be convenient for someone to enter with high scores in the Unified State Exam for PR, and after a year and a half change their preferences and choose Oriental Studies. At this point, RANEPA focuses on the academic performance rating, and not on the Unified State Exam upon admission. In this way - absolutely legal - applicants get some variability in admission and the rigidity of choice is slightly removed.
There is no longer one profession for life. Now a “fashion specialty” does not guarantee success after defending a diploma. Universities have already realized this, and now they are offering multidisciplinary training. Natalya Krasovskaya, Liberal Arts teacher at RANEPA, and Natalya Koretskaya, a graduate of such a program, talk about an example of such training.
For those preparing for the main school exam
The first year at a university is the time when a high school student turns into a student. Lessons suddenly turn into pairs, teachers into professors, essays into scientific papers. Getting an “excellent” in your grade is not the same as getting an “A” in a quarter. For a student, it is not important to answer questions correctly, but rather to ask the right questions.
Further - more: studying at a university means acquiring competencies (that's another word!), and they are taken not from a textbook, but from internships and practices. It turns out that it will not be possible to learn knowledge, skills and abilities in the usual school way.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that every university graduate will very soon have to retrain. There is no longer one profession for life. Technology development does not guarantee successful employment five to six years from the date of admission. A year ago, in China, journalists’ texts were inferior in quality to artificial intelligence texts. It is unlikely that this process will reverse.
Why everyone needs soft skills today
In addition to the main professional skills, for example, writing or designing, today we need to learn to communicate effectively and go beyond our specialty. These skills are also called flexible skills - soft skills.
Soft skills- a mixture of critical, creative and design thinking, the ability to work in a team, the ability to come to an agreement in any situation, the ability to build multicultural communications, and knowledge of foreign languages. And most importantly, the ability to make informed choices and make meaningful decisions.
Such additional skills in statistics of employer surveys are more in demand among modern bachelors than rote answers about experiences and discoveries, as was customary in the past. Often during an interview, deep knowledge pales in comparison to 3D modeling and English Advanced skills.
To develop soft skills, university programs are changing today. The bachelor is offered to choose as many different courses as possible or continue his studies in a master’s program in a direction that is in no way related to the bachelor’s profile of training, or take part in research projects.
Today, higher education cannot exist in the previous format, when they taught “professions for life”
New synthetic specialties are emerging that need to be taught in a special way. In response to them, new subjects arise: philosophy of physics, ecology of law, sociology of the city. A “true humanitarian” turns into a multifunctionalist. Just 10-15 years ago, PR education was a sensation - it combined humanities and technical disciplines, such as art history and database analysis. Such professions at the intersection of several scientific disciplines need to be prepared differently.
How the professions of the future are taught today
More than 15 years ago, programs focused on the Liberal Arts educational model appeared in Russian universities. The pioneer in this process was St. Petersburg State University, then the trend was picked up by RANEPA. These are not random bursts of enthusiasm, but a carefully prepared response to the demands of the modern labor market.
Liberal Arts is a multidisciplinary bachelor's degree, where a student receives more than one specialization in social and humanitarian training upon graduation. The program allows you to learn how to make informed choices and make independent decisions.
The basis of such programs is the individualization of training. How it works? To the main profile, for example, in advertising and public relations, an additional one in political science or urban studies is added. You will end up with a “humanities major” squared or even cubed - if you go to a master's program in art history. A tutor becomes an assistant in choosing, who helps you learn to be responsible for your choice.
Such education is more about design and critical thinking skills, rather than learned knowledge once and for all.
Students choose their specialty after the first year, and before that they learn to study and, together with tutors, determine their own needs. This first year, in a sense, compensates for school education, relieves the trauma of the Unified State Examination, and teaches us to be independent adults.
For a Russian freshman, this is super relevant - after all, in the American and European tradition, one becomes a university student at the age of 19-20, and not at 17-18, as in Russia. Our applicant, due to his age, is not at all confident in his professional choice, and in many cases he does not mind that his parents make the choice of profession and university for him.
The Liberal Arts model is still not entirely familiar. Students are given greater freedom to choose subjects of the main and additional profiles of training (majors and minors), and as a result of this mix, they can become a psychologist-architect or philologist-manager. You don’t often see such vacancies on HeadHunter yet. Multiple profiles make the professional identity of a Liberal Arts graduate blurred and problematic - these are traditional myths and perceptions.
The question is not whether this is good or bad, but for whom and in what situation it can be an advantage. In a situation of uncertainty and high-speed variability in the professional world, additional lines of education and the development of soft skills are an obvious advantage.
In 2012, the Liberal Arts department was created at RANEPA, which in 2014 received the status of Faculty. The initiator of the creation of the program was the rector of the Academy V.A. Mau. In interviews and articles, he has repeatedly spoken about the relevance of combining the training of specialists in such traditional academic areas as public policy, management, PR and economics with broad multidisciplinary training.
The scientific director of Liberal Arts College is Andrei Leonidovich Zorin, one of the leading cultural historians and specialists in higher education in Russia, who has many years of teaching experience in the USA and is currently a professor at Oxford University. The first dean of the faculty was the author of the concept of the Bachelor of Liberal Arts, candidate of historical sciences Evgeniy Vladimirovich Mironov. Today this post is occupied by Alexander Borisovich Mishin.
The development team took advantage of the Academy’s right to create its own educational standards, given to it, along with several other Russian universities, by the President of the Russian Federation. Currently, the Liberal Arts College of RANEPA and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University are the only educational institutions in Russia offering this kind of program.
Distinctive features of the Liberal Arts College program:
Stages of training: mastering the general compulsory set of disciplines in the General block; choice of major specialization (major) after the 2nd semester; choosing an additional profile of study (minor) after the 5th semester; a combination of theoretical training and practice, starting from the 4th semester.
Tutor support of the educational process. Tutors help students adapt to the norms and values of academic life and formulate an individual curriculum, advise on issues that arise during independent work, planning further education, and building a professional career.
Subjects that are not traditional for Russian universities. The program includes a four-year Great Books course, during which students read and discuss with teachers significant works of world culture. The Writing and Critical Thinking course combines elements of Applied Philosophy and Academic Writing.
Particular attention is paid to the course of thoughtful reading: students of different specialties and profiles over four years must read and analyze about two dozen works - novels, philosophical works and non-fiction books. “Theories and Practices” talked with the creators of the unique Great Books course, developed specifically for RANEPA, and are publishing a list of books that need to be read in full to be considered an educated person.
About a powerful humanitarian base, world culture and communication with former classmates
Leonid Klein senior lecturer, deputy head. Department of Public and Political Communications at ION RANEPA
The main problem of school education is that it is fundamentally fragmented. Students are forced to mindlessly prepare for the Unified State Exam or writing an essay. They don't have time to just talk about the text. We spend from six to eight pairs on one novel. Of course, this is not much for a philology department, it is not enough to write a scientific paper, but it makes it possible to use the text as a source of arguments.
In general, education within the framework of Liberal Arts is a powerful humanitarian basis for students, and academic reading is part of the ideology. You can be a manager, a journalist, a political scientist, and so on, but in any case you must have a humanitarian cushion. The course helps ensure that students can read large texts in their entirety. Otherwise, the question arises: are they even ready to receive higher education if they are not able to master 400 pages?
Our list includes both fiction and non-fiction. In the first courses we teach works of art, because in any case they are easier than philosophy. For example, we offer two fiction novels to first-year students: “Vanity Fair” and “Demons” or “Don Quixote” and “Robinson Crusoe.” Then the bar rises and more serious works appear: “The Prince” by Machiavelli, “The Republic” by Plato, “On the Social Contract” by Rousseau. If a student honestly reads these five books, he will already be head and shoulders above those who have not read them. Even if after reading he does not understand anything, this experience will still be to his advantage. After the first year of academic reading, some of our students admit that they find it difficult to communicate with classmates who have not read such books.
The books we call Great Books provide insight into world culture. Pasternak also wrote: “He controlled the flow of thought, and only because of that, the country.” This current of thought can only be found in texts; it is on it that all reflections will be built. Not long ago we launched a lecture hall, which is based on three pillars: texts, eras, institutions. We talk and discuss important works, trying to show that any culture is built around texts.
About intellectual taste, quality reading and the inferiority of any such list
Evgeniy Mironov, Head of the Department of Humanitarian Disciplines, RANEPA, Candidate of Historical Sciences
We try to instill in our students an intellectual taste for reading quality texts, so that they themselves understand which books deserve attention. It is important that students do not memorize the author's main ideas, but analyze them. We read specific authors not because they are right, but because they asked questions to which answers have not yet been found. But these, of course, are also applied skills: the ability to compare different concepts, systematize knowledge, and develop your own point of view.
The course is structured as follows: we read approximately one book per month. The result is about 20 books for the entire period of study. Variability is possible within the course: at the beginning of their studies, students independently choose which books they would like to study. We created a four-year course so that for students academic reading would become a constant process, a kind of intellectual sport. So that they get used to the fact that they should always have such a smart book in their hands. Almost a reflex: not having a book with you is wrong. The point here is not even the quantity of reading, but its quality: such experience shapes the scale and systematic thinking. Although regularity also influences the formation of such a habit.
The list, of course, is growing - both thanks to students and thanks to new teachers. After all, any good university teacher has a list of books that, in his opinion, need to be read in order to better understand a particular subject. Our list was formed five years ago. This, naturally, was preceded by a great discussion. Through dialogue and expert exchange, we have chosen the minimum that, in our opinion, should be familiar to an educated person. Of course, any such list is flawed: works can be added to it endlessly.
After the first course, we survey students to find out what they like best. They generally like that the learning experience is completely different from what it was like at school. I think this effect is largely due to the Great Books course, because it is truly a new experience for them and they no longer feel like schoolchildren.
Great Novels
"Don Quixote"
Spanish Renaissance novel about the adventures of the hidalgo Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza. Under the impression of heroic ballads, the main character decides to revive chivalry. On the pages of Cervantes’s satirical work one can find echoes of various currents of European humanistic thought: from Neoplatonism to Christian humanism.
"Robinson Crusoe"
A classic English novel about traveler and planter Robinson Crusoe, who is shipwrecked on a desert island and spends 28 years in the wild. Defoe tells a story of moral regeneration, man's infinite potential and his struggle against a hostile world. The novel reflects the ideology of early capitalism and the Enlightenment.
"Vanity Fair"
A classic work about the morals of the British aristocracy during the Napoleonic Wars. The novel with original illustrations by the author was published in the satirical magazine Punch - it took up 20 issues. As Thackeray himself wrote, “Vanity Fair is a novel without a hero”: the writer created a portrait of English high society with all its sins and vices.
"Demons"
One of Dostoevsky's darkest novels. The writer talks about the birth and development of revolutionary terrorist circles in Russia. The prototype of the plot was a real event - the murder of student Ivan Ivanov by Sergei Nechaev’s “People’s Retribution” group. One of the few works in which Dostoevsky does not sympathize with any of the characters: he sharply criticizes revolutionary and atheistic ideas, depicting the moral corruption of terrorists.
Policy
"State"
Plato's dialogue about the ideal state, which is described as reminiscent of a classical communist society. Plato proposes a classification of perfect and imperfect forms of the state (he considers democracy imperfect), discusses justice and the education of citizens. Among other things, the Republic defines the activities of philosophers for the first time. One of the most significant passages is the myth of the cave: an explanation of Plato's doctrine of ideas.
"Sovereign"
The work of the Florentine philosopher and statesman became the guidance of a skillful ruler. Machiavelli talks about the types of states, methods of seizing and maintaining power, methods of warfare, and the qualities and behavior of a successful ruler. Instead of idealistic ideas about power, the philosopher gives rather pragmatic instructions.
"Social Contract"
Treatise by the French Enlightenment thinker on the origins of the state. Rousseau develops the idea of a social contract as the starting point of the state and proposes the concept of democracy (popular sovereignty). The thinker unwittingly became the ideologist of the Great French Revolution, and the ideas of his treatise were embodied in the French Constitution of 1791.
Psychology
"Man's Search for Meaning"
A book by an Austrian psychiatrist, written by him during his imprisonment in the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau. Frankl not only describes the experience of life in concentration camps, but also analyzes what he saw and experienced from the point of view of psychiatry. In the book, he describes for the first time the psychiatric method of working with patients (logotherapy) that he developed and raises eternal questions about the meaning of life, freedom, responsibility, suffering and death.
"A little book about a big memory"
The work of a Soviet psychologist about a person with phenomenal visual and sensory memory. The scientist watched him for a long time to understand the nature of his features. The book describes all the data obtained during communication with this “experiment of nature.”
"Design of common things"
Founder of the Nielsen Norman Group and former VP of Apple talks about classic design missteps and user demands. Norman offers alternative solutions, keeping in mind the needs of consumers and the basics of cognitive psychology.
Society
"Democracy in America"
A treatise by a French politician on the American state and society. “Democracy in America” became the first in-depth analysis of US political life: Tocqueville traveled around America for nine months and communicated with representatives of its intellectual elite. The author paid special attention to describing the ideology of democracy, the advantages of federalism and studying the influence of democracy on various spheres of society.
"Rise of the Masses"
The Spanish philosopher and sociologist Ortega y Gasset created a portrait of a typical resident of European countries in the first half of the 20th century - a “man of the masses.” In his opinion, it was the “revolt of the masses” that became the cause of the political crisis in Europe. The sociologist's work was one of the first studies of mass society and the dangers it brings to the world.
"Globalization. Consequences for individuals and society"
The British sociologist studied globalization and its impact on the state of the modern world. Bauman draws readers' attention to the threats that global processes entail. But the book is not only about political, economic, social, cultural and religious integration and unification - Bauman also talks about the life of an ordinary citizen of a modern individualized Western society.
Economy
"An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations"
The Scottish economist's treatise became the fundamental work of political economy. Smith summarized all the ideas of scientists over the past century, and also developed the methods and terminology of economic science. Among other things, his concept of the role of power in economic processes (“the state is a night watchman”) subsequently became a classical political economic theory.
"Capital"
Capital is the most famous book in the field of political economy. It is based on a critical analysis of capitalism. Marx was the first to describe and explain the process of formation of surplus value, showed its role in the historical development of capitalist production and studied the relationship between goods and money.
"The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money"
One of the main works in the field of economics of the last century. As a result of the analysis of economic processes at the beginning of the 20th century (in particular, the Great Depression of the 30s in the USA), Keynes laid the foundations and terminology of macroeconomics. “Keynesianism” dominated academic and government circles in industrialized Western countries until the early 1970s.
Ideas and ideologies
"The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism"
A treatise by a German economist and sociologist on how religion correlates with the economic system. In particular, Weber considered the Reformation and Protestantism as prerequisites for the emergence of the capitalist system.
"Ideology and Utopia"
A study of one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century and the founding father of the sociology of knowledge. Mannheim defined utopian consciousness and studied how people perceive reality through the lens of ideology, as well as how ideologies themselves influence society, history and philosophy.
"Structure of Scientific Revolutions"
The American historian's book on the development of scientific knowledge has become one of the most cited in the field of philosophy of science. Kuhn introduced the concepts of “paradigm”, “paradigm change” and “scientific revolution”. According to his concept, scientific knowledge develops spasmodically through scientific revolutions, during which a change in explanatory paradigms occurs.
(Post)modernity
"Understanding Media"
The book by the Canadian philosopher and philologist became one of the first studies in the field of media ecology. McLuhan proposed studying media regardless of their content. Having analyzed the history of the development of means of communication, he comes to the conclusion that the media themselves have always influenced individuals and society (“The medium is the message”).
"The Postmodern State"
A treatise by the French literary theorist and postmodernist philosopher on the state of scientific knowledge in the postmodern era. According to Lyotard, the modernist approach to science is no longer relevant, therefore the information society requires a new theoretical approach to its description. The scientist developed a functionalist approach to the study of society, and proposed a two-stage model (in which it is easy to recognize bachelor's and master's degrees) as an effective system of higher education.
"Fluid Modernity"
Fluid modernity is a transition from a structured world to a more fluid state free from conditions and boundaries. Zygmunt Bauman described this transitional state of the postmodern world, created a portrait of the modern individual and explained how this transformation affects the life of society and individuals.
Preview: Philosophy and the Seven Liberal Arts. Miniature from the book of Gerrada of Landsberg “Hortus Deliciarum” (1167-1185).
The Liberal Arts education system, widespread in the USA and well known in Europe, is represented in Russia by only two faculties - at RANEPA and St. Petersburg State University. Recently, however, an attempt was made to organize similar classes for teachers, but it is still unclear whether the new way of education will take root at Moscow State Pedagogical University.
Modern Liberal Arts originate from antiquity - a cycle of disciplines (Septem Artes Liberales), which formed the basis not only of the Greco-Roman education system, but also of the medieval one. These disciplines (grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) were studied in secondary schools, and more deeply in universities. It was assumed that the range of this knowledge would help a person cope with any life difficulties.
In the modern system of Russian education, the practice of Liberal Arts is progressing slowly - fifteen years ago, with the support of Bard College, the Smolny Institute was launched, which is now included in St. Petersburg State University as a faculty of liberal arts and sciences, and three years ago a similar faculty was opened at RANEPA.
Meanwhile, Liberal Arts programs are no less relevant for Russia than in the rest of the rapidly changing world. Since the education system here continues the traditions of the Soviet past, and school graduates have to choose a specialty quite early, they are often deceived in their expectations. In their senior years, as a recent study by the recruiting portal Superjob showed, every fifth Russian student is already disappointed in the specialty they have chosen. It is likely that the Liberal Arts system could significantly improve the situation, but the very principle of this education seems to be in conflict with the established practice of teaching in Russian higher education.
How liberal education works in the post-Soviet space and what difficulties its ideologists have to overcome, the president of the American University of Central Asia told Radio Liberty Andrew Wachtel, Associate Professor, Department of Theory and Methodology of Teaching Arts and Humanities, St. Petersburg State University Marina Kalashnikova and director of the Liberal Arts program at RANEPA Evgeniy Mironov.
Evgeniy Mironov, director of the Liberal Arts program at RANEPA:
A separate department has been created at RANEPA, it is called Liberal Arts College, but we use the word “college” not in the Russian sense, but in the American sense. It works like this. During the first year, all of our students study together, in mixed groups, regardless of who they are going to be. And only at the end of the first year the student chooses a major profile, what is called a “major” in American colleges. Many students make a choice from scratch, many choose something other than where they planned to go when entering the Academy.
In addition to the main profile, students can take a mini-package of 10-11 courses, supplementing their education with what interests them, what they think is important for their future professional path. This is an opportunity for a slightly delayed choice, on the one hand, and, on the other, a broad and varied education, that is, what distinguishes Liberal Arts from other approaches.
Additional courses appear precisely at the moment when students have already tried a lot of things, in the third year normal fatigue arises - and a certain turnaround, a new choice appears. We have two blocks of “major” courses, some of which we jokingly call heavy, and those with more hours, humanities, scientifically oriented: history, oriental studies, psychology. The second line is more applied: PR, journalism, urban studies. And usually, for guys who choose completely humanitarian “majors,” we recommend applied “miners” to balance it out, and vice versa, say, a PR specialist should go and take serious fundamental courses in political science, for example, sociology or psychology.
a free person is interested in many things, he is interdisciplinary in nature
Liberal Arts is not only the structure of the program, it is also what it is filled with, and how the teachers work in the classroom. We have a minimum number of lectures, because during lectures the student is passive. Mostly interactive classes are practiced, where the student is an accomplice in the process. If you take a Great Books course, for example, to see what the role of the teacher is - he moves through the text with the students, often articulating his own misunderstanding of what is in the text and asking the students to reflect together. Therefore, Liberal Arts is also an approach, an atmosphere and some, if you like, initial respect for the student as a subject of the educational process.
And if a student went through four years studying “majors” and “miners” on completely different topics, where they spoke different languages, he was actually simultaneously immersed in two pictures of the world, often contradictory to each other or not at all consistent. And from our point of view, if he successfully went through this, he will easily master any third area, picture of the world, profession without us.
There are studies of the Liberal Arts program, made primarily on American material, although now this program is becoming extremely popular both in Europe and in the post-Soviet space, they are also trying it in China. Therefore, the careers of Liberal Arts graduates around the world are known to be extremely successful. It is this slightly delayed start, compared to students of narrow professional programs, that in the long term gives a greater run-up and planning horizon.
In my opinion, this is completely normal, since a person is successful where he is interested, but our students also, as a rule, choose the teacher with whom they want to “live” the main course. We try to organize all our “majors” in such a way that it is a master class of a specific specialist, a professional in this field. And in this sense, this is high-class professional training, more strategically oriented than traditional narrow, single-profile training.
The fact is that the Liberal Arts approach emphasizes some of the universal skills required by an educated, free person. A person needs communication skills in different social situations, needs skills in working with complex texts, even if he is not a professional humanist, skills in creating his own texts, critical thinking, that is, some universal intellectual equipment.
In general, a well-educated person is always Liberal Arts, and in this sense Liberal Arts is a tradition of education that comes from antiquity, where it arose as education for free people. In this sense, the word "Liberal" does not refer to political liberalism, but simply to the education of free people. In contrast to purely craft training, which remained for the not free population. A free person is free to choose, change or combine; he is often interested in a lot of things. In this sense, to tell him: choose, you are a mathematician or a musician, means to carry out some kind of violence against him. A free person is interested in many things; he is interdisciplinary in nature.
Andrew Wachtel, President of the American University of Central Asia:
The Liberal Arts approach was at the university from the very beginning, it just wasn't called that. The Ministry of Education is a conservative thing, and convincing them to open such a program cost a lot of energy and blood. Kyrgyzstan has quite good requirements for general education, and we were able to take these requirements, somehow reshape them and create the skeleton of the Liberal Arts program. Then we added, when we began to officially teach Liberal Arts, new courses, a little unusual for Liberal Arts, because they are more in science, history, literature and art.
how to convince people that the most important thing is not to find an answer to a specific question, but to open a series of questions
The main problem of the Soviet system, which still persists in universities, is not at the level of the humanities block, as it seems to me, but is more related to the requirements for the main program. These requirements are much more than necessary, and this narrows the space for other things. The question is what the general education block is filled with: if you spend a lot of time on nonsense, nothing good will come of it. But when there is a compulsory course, say, in philosophy, the only question is how you will teach this course - boring or interesting. That is, the course already exists, but what you will do there is an open question.
Of course, problems arose with the mentality of students, but there is also the mentality of teachers - how to convince people that the most important thing is not to find an answer to a specific question, but to open a whole series of questions. People are used to thinking, even if they read literature, that there is a topic and there is a correct answer. And to convince students and teachers that there is no right answer to a question, but that there is a whole range of possible answers, some better, some worse, and to explain the answer you want to find - this is the most difficult thing, by far.
Marina Kalashnikova, Associate Professor, Department of Theory and Methodology of Teaching Arts and Humanities, St. Petersburg State University:
Our program, of course, has its own specifics, but everything is structured approximately the same as in the USA. Students choose "majors" after the second year through a procedure called moderation, when they write a special paper. Each training profile, each program, has its own requirements for moderation, and each student, focusing on his future, must take a certain set of courses and convince colleagues and teachers from a particular program that he is capable of professionally studying this subject. In general, the student still receives broad interdisciplinary training; the so-called block of the general curriculum is responsible for this.
There are curriculum requirements for major training and requirements for the general curriculum, where a student, regardless of his future major, is required to take one course in music, one course in philology, one in visual arts, social sciences, and so on, plus a mandatory course in mathematics. There are 8 such disciplinary areas in total, and, regardless of who you really want to become, where you are going to moderate, you must take these courses, at least one at a time during the entire period of study.
A very important point of Liberal Arts is that this system allows the student to engage in one disciplinary area and not lose sight of others. You love music, you want to know a little more about it than ordinary school graduates know, but you are not going to study it professionally. The Liberal Arts system will allow you to maintain your competencies in the field of music, music theory or practical music, and at the same time become professional in the field of, say, literary research.
knowledge cannot but be individual, it is not a collective thing
We trace the fates of our graduates, although here we must understand that over the years that we exist, and this is quite a long period, 15 years, the labor market conditions, the attitude of the employer, and in general the attitude of the students themselves to what is called “being successful” have changed " For example, our internal research in 2008 showed that students are afraid to enter the labor market, they do not know who they will be and what the labor market expects from them in specific specialties. Modern graduates have a much simpler attitude to this; they are rather ready to defend their some important competencies, such as mobility, the ability to navigate, study independently, make choices, and so on, that is, not directly, narrowly related to any professional region.
The applicants are very different; today 60 regions of the Russian Federation are represented. This year, the percentage of graduates from St. Petersburg schools was probably the lowest in the entire history of the Smolny Institute. Probably because we accept only the results of the Unified State Exam, and nonresident students have the opportunity to submit documents by mail.
Our traditionally popular areas are those related to art, cinema and video. International relations and political sciences, human rights also attract many. In fact, the indicators are different from year to year, but the literature major, for example, is always quite popular.
In addition to strictly humanitarian areas, our faculty has such profiles as “Complex Systems”, “Artificial Intelligence”, “Computer Science”, “Cognitive Research”. In fact, science in the Liberal Arts system has been developing extremely actively in recent years, and an example of this is our partner - Bard College, which has recently been paying a lot of attention to the development of science in the Liberal Arts system. Simply due to Russian specifics and conservatism, the development of such profiles within Liberal Arts is more difficult, slower, and it is more difficult to negotiate with colleagues with such training.
In our experience, not every teacher, even if he is a great professional, can find himself in this system. We place quite strict demands on teachers: they are required to spend more time with students, and all classes are conducted in an interactive manner. This means that the teacher must prepare for each of his seminar classes, think through the system, give students a “reader” in advance, which he will ask them, must not only check the written work of students, of which there should be a lot, but also write detailed reviews of each of these works. As a result, we are dealing with colleagues who understand that teaching methods in higher education are not a secondary thing, but a very important tool for achieving the best results.
And the second important thing is the individualization of learning. Working in a small group, when you know each student, allows you to personalize knowledge. Because knowledge cannot but be individual; it is not a collective thing.
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