Liberal arts college

Liberal arts college
Olin Library and the Andrus Center on the campus of Wesleyan University, an American liberal arts college
Saint Anselm College, a traditional New England liberal arts college

A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.

Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional humanities subjects taught as liberal arts.

A "liberal arts" institution can be defined as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting broad general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum."[1] Although what is known today as the liberal arts college began in Europe,[2] the term is commonly associated with the United States[citation needed]. Prominent examples in the US include the so-called Little Three, Colby-Bates-Bowdoin, and Little Ivy colleges in New England and the surviving, predominantly female Seven Sisters colleges along the northeastern seaboard, but similar institutions are found all over the country.

Occidental College Johnson Student Center and Freeman College Union

Liberal arts colleges are found in all parts of the world. Examples of such colleges are Bishop's University in Canada, Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, John Cabot University in Rome, Italy, European College of Liberal Arts in Germany, University College Utrecht in the Netherlands, Foundation for Liberal and Management Education in Pune, India and Campion College in Sydney, Australia. However, especially in Europe, many topics covered in the general education conveyed at American liberal arts colleges are also addressed in specialized secondary schools.

The “liberal arts college experience” in the US is characterized by three main aspects that demarcate it from undergraduate experiences in other countries:[dubious ][citation needed]

  1. smaller size than universities, which usually means more individual attention is given to each student;
  2. residential, which means students live and learn away from home, often for the first time, and learn to live well with others. Additionally, the residential experience of living on campus brings a wide variety of cultural, political, and intellectual events to students who might not otherwise seek them out in a non-residential setting (though not every college has such strict residency requirements); and
  3. a typically two-year exploration of the liberal arts or general knowledge before declaring a major.

Lists of schools

See also

References

Further reading

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Liberal-Arts-College — Septem artes liberales aus Hortus Deliciarum der Herrad von Landsberg (um 1180) Die Sieben freien Künste (lat. septem artes liberales, seltener auch studia liberalia) sind ein in der Antike entstandener Kanon von sieben Studienfächern, d …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Liberal Arts College — Université d arts libéraux Une université d arts libéraux est une classification de l’enseignement supérieur aux États Unis (Liberal arts college) qui offre des programmes spécialisés aux arts libéraux. Le but de ce type d’éducation est de créer… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Shanghai University Liberal Arts College — The Liberal Arts College of Shanghai University is the institute of academic concentrates mainly on linguistics and liberal arts, history and sociology theory.The college consist of department of Chinese, history, sociology, and archival science …   Wikipedia

  • Liberal arts colleges in the United States — are institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers the following definition of the liberal arts as a, college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general… …   Wikipedia

  • College of Liberal Arts — may refer to, among other things, any of the following: De La Salle University College of Liberal Arts Georgia Institute of Technology Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Kobe College of Liberal Arts Korea University College of Liberal Arts… …   Wikipedia

  • Liberal Arts, Inc. — Liberal Arts, Inc. was the name of an unsuccessful corporation founded in late 1946, which intended to create a Great Books based liberal arts college in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is notable for failing despite the involvement of four… …   Wikipedia

  • Liberal arts — The term liberal arts refers to a particular type of educational curriculum broadly defined as a classical education.HistoryDefinitionanchors|Seven liberal arts|The seven liberal artsThe term liberal arts is a college or curriculum aimed at… …   Wikipedia

  • Liberal Arts — Septem artes liberales aus Hortus Deliciarum der Herrad von Landsberg (um 1180) Die Sieben freien Künste (lat. septem artes liberales, seltener auch studia liberalia) sind ein in der Antike entstandener Kanon von sieben Studienfächern, d …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • liberal arts — noun studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills) (Freq. 1) the college of arts and sciences • Syn: ↑humanistic discipline, ↑humanities, ↑arts • Hypernyms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • liberal arts — pl.n. [transl. of L artes liberales, lit., arts befitting a freeman: so named in contrast to artes serviles, lower (lit., servile) arts, and because open to study only by freemen (L liberi); in later use understood as “arts becoming a gentleman”] …   English World dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”