Don Markwell's take on liberal education

A couple of months ago, I blogged about a speech that was delivered by Donald Markwell, the Warden of Rhodes House at Oxford University and the Trent University Ashley Fellow for 2010.

During Markwell's fellowship this past February, he also presented in a forum with Edward J Nell, Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research (located in New York City). The title of the forum, "The End of Liberal Education" presented critical questions and thoughts regarding the importance of a liberal education in the 21st century. Furthermore, the speech highlights the academic skills you can obtain from a liberal arts education and how such skills will help you in the workforce. In addition, Markwell alludes to international examples where universities have embraced liberal education in China, Singapore and South Korea.

How is this related to Trent? Trent is still considered a liberal arts university and prides itself on its interdisciplinary education. Indeed, Markwell also spoke to interdisciplinarity being the keystone to a liberal arts education. My undergrad programs at Trent were Environmental Studies and Geography. Both were very interdisciplinary allowing students to explore and critically evaluate a variety of themes/topics and understand how they connect to one another. For example, the bridge between science and policy analysis; something I learned about and explored in a number of classes.

I would highly recommend you take a few minutes to read Don Markwell's speech on the importance of liberal education around the world:

http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/files/On_liberal_education_February_9_2010.doc

The Value of University Residential Colleges

This past February, Trent University's Ashley Fellowship was awarded to Dr. Don Markwell. Dr. Markwell is the Warden of Rhodes House, Oxford University. He is responsible for the Rhodes Scholarships around the world. The Ashley Fellowship is funded by a bequest from the late Professor C.A. Ashley, longtime friend of Trent University and an enthusiastic proponent of the role that the informal contacts of College life can play in the academic pursuits of the University.

Dr. Markwell was at Trent for about two weeks and delivered three public events including a lecture, a panel and colloquium. I was fortunate to attend all three. While all three lectures were highly interesting and full of insight, the relevant one that I will briefly discuss was titled "The Value of University Residential Colleges". The lecture had an impressive response panel featuring Thomas H.B Symons, Founding President of Trent University. John Fraser, Master of Massey College, University of Toronto. Susan Wurtele, Professor of Geography and Trent University Alumna and finally, Julia Harrison, Professor and Director of the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies.

For those that attended this lecture, I am sure they walked away as satisfied and informed as I was. You can access a copy of the lecture here.

Markwell is huge proponent of the residential college system. In his speech, he cited a number of universities that have recently revitalized their colleges including Princeton, Yale, Rice, Harvard and Oxford University. He spoke about the renaissance in the college system as even more universities have started to establish, plan and expand internal systems of residential colleges.

Markwell revealed that through his own observations, "colleges provide one of the best potential environments for encouraging mutually rewarding connection between students from many different cultures and countries – but such positive interactions do not just happen by chance, and leadership within colleges is needed to encourage them and create good preconditions for them".

He referred to a quote by Alan Gilbert (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester) that summed up his lecture quite nicely:

"the kinds of multilayered, close knit, highly interactive learning communities that good university colleges and halls of residence create are likely to remain among the hallmarks of any great undergraduate educational experience."

I would encourage everyone to read through his lecture which I found to be very informative, topical and critical for Trent University's college system.