College Learning for the New Global Century - 4

fields. These outcomes provide a new framework to guide students’ cumulative progress—as well as curricular alignment—from school through college. The LEAP National Leadership Council does not call for a “one-size-fits-all” curriculum. The recommended learning outcomes can and should be achieved through many different programs of study and in all collegiate institutions, including colleges, community colleges and technical institutes, and universities, both public and private.

Liberal Education and American Capability
The essential learning outcomes are important for a globally engaged democracy, for a dynamic, innovation-fueled economy, and for the development of individual capability. A course of study that helps students develop these capacities is best described as a liberal—and liberating—education. Reflecting the traditions of American higher education since the founding, the term “liberal education” headlines the kinds of learning needed for a free society and for the full development of human talent. Liberal education has always been this nation’s signature educational tradition, and this report builds on its core values: expanding horizons, building understanding of the wider world, honing analytical and communication skills, and fostering responsibilities beyond self. However, in a deliberate break with the academic categories developed in the twentieth century, the LEAP National Leadership Council disputes the idea that liberal education is achieved only through studies in arts and sciences disciplines. It also challenges the conventional view that liberal education is, by definition, “nonvocational.” The council defines liberal education for the twenty-first century as a comprehensive set of aims and outcomes (see previous page) that are essential for all students because they are important to all fields of endeavor. Today, in an economy that is dependent on innovation and global savvy, these outcomes have become the keys to economic vitality and individual opportunity. They are the foundations for American success in all fields—from technology and the sciences to communications and the creative arts. The LEAP National Leadership Council recommends, therefore, that the essential aims and outcomes be emphasized across every field of college study, whether the field is conventionally considered one of the arts and sciences disciplines or whether it is one of the professional and technical fields (business, engineering, education, health, the performing arts, etc.) in which the majority of college students currently major. General education plays a role, but it is not possible to squeeze all these important aims into the general education program alone. The majors must address them as well. In the last century, higher education divided educational programs into two opposed categories—an elite curriculum emphasizing liberal arts education “for its own sake” and a more applied set of programs

"In an economy that is dependent on innovation and global savvy, liberal education outcomes have become the keys to economic vitality and individual opportunity."

4 AAC&U | Executive Summary
College Learning for the New Global Century

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of College Learning for the New Global Century
