Mapping the Liberal Arts of GALA

Posted on March 28, 2018

On the 23d and 24th of March, at the Liberal Arts College at RANEPA (Moscow) has been held an international workshop Mapping the Liberal Arts of GALA. The workshop gathered 13 participants from five member institutions of the Global Academy of Liberal Arts. For two days, faculty staff from the Liberal Arts College at RANEPA (Russia), Bath Spa University (UK), University of Udine (Italy), University College Roosevelt (the Netherlands), and Concordia University (Canada) had discussed a role and significance of the liberal arts education in the context of the rapidly worldwide changing geopolitical and economic circumstances. One of the main goals of the workshop was the identification of the values and “common denominators” of liberal arts practice that would differ it from other undergraduate programs in the humanities. The result of the intensive workshop was a map of liberal arts provision and practices across the GALA network. This map contains not only “strengths” and prioritized directions for each member institution of GALA, but also criteria of quality for the liberal arts education. Hereafter, such criteria will help to expand spheres of cooperation between partner institutions of the GALA network. There have been also established potential projects within GALA, including a foundation of an academic journal dedicated to the liberal arts education; teaching staff exchange; new ways of the spread of information within the GALA network; and prospective collaborative research projects among member-institutions. The first results of the recently established projects will be presented at the annual GALA conference that will be held on 25–27 July at Concordia University in Montreal.

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