Social, economic and environmental challenges have placed significant pressures on higher education. As policymakers respond to these challenges, there is a danger that the quality of higher education will be judged simply in terms of graduates’ employment outcomes and we will lose sight of the educational purposes of engaging students in higher education. In this keynote, I will argue that, in order to reinvigorate our understanding of what we are educating students for, we need to focus on how we develop curricula that support students to develop transformational relationships with disciplinary and professional knowledge. These relationships change students’ understanding of themselves and the world and are central to the many ways in which engaging in higher education can transform students' lives and contribute to societal well-being. I will explore the implications of this argument for our educational practices.
Paul Ashwin is Professor of Higher Education and Head of the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University. His book, ‘Transforming University Education: A Manifesto’ (2020), argues for a focus on the educational, rather than economic, purposes of university degrees in order to understand their transformational impact on students and societies. He is also the lead author on Reflective Teaching in Higher Education (2015, 2020) written by an international team to support the development of research-informed university teaching.
The lecture will take place as part of the annual Elkana Conference on Teaching and Learning. For conference participants, no separate RSVP is required.
CEU, CIVICA, and OSUN faculty and doctoral students are welcome to attend the workshop (or conference as a whole). If you are joining just for the workshop, please RSVP to receive the link.