dimanche 7 mars 2010

Toward Integral Higher Education Study Programs in the European Higher Education Area: A Programmatic and Strategic View Markus Molz

 
 
Toward Integral Higher Education Study Programs in the European Higher Education Area: A Programmatic and Strategic View
Markus Molz

 

http://integral-review.org/documents/Molz, Toward Integral Higher Education, Vol. 5, No. 2.pdf


 

INTEGRAL REVIEW    December 2009    Vol. 5, No. 2 

 

Abstract: This essay somehow arbitrarily freezes my ongoing attempt to grasp the 
present situation and future possibilities of higher education courses, programs, 
institutions and initiatives that are inspired by integral and likeminded approaches. The 
focus in this essay is on the European Higher Education Area and its specifics, whereas 
some implicit or explicit comparisons with the USA are made. My reflections are 
triggered by the recurrent observation that in Europe there seems to be i) more demand 
than offer of integrally oriented higher education programs, ii) an imbalance between 
overused but little successful and underused but potentially more promising strategies to 
implement such programs, iii) little or no learning from past failures, and iv) little mutual 
awareness, communication and collaboration between different activists and initiatives in 
this field. 
The context for this essay is i) the current societal macroshift, ii) the unfolding of 
academic level integral and likeminded research worldwide, and iii) the large scale 
reform of the European Higher Education systems brought about by the Bologna process, 
its (false) promises and the potential it nevertheless has for realizing examples of a more 
integral higher education. On this basis the consequences for attempts to overcome a 
relatively stagnant state of affairs in Europe are discussed. Given that; most past attempts 
to implement programs inspired by an integral worldview have failed from the start, or 
disappeared after a relatively short period, or are marginalised or becoming re- 
mainstreamed, this essay aims to devise a potentially more promising strategic corridor 
and describes the contours of the results that could be brought about when following a 
developmental trajectory within this corridor. This futurising exercise is inspired by 
principles shared by many integral and likeminded approaches, especially the 
reconsideration, integration and transcendence of premodern, modern and postmodern 
structures and practices of higher education. 
This essay is programmatic and thus deliberately combines facts and values, past and 
future, summaries of first person observations and third person factual information, 
without the burden of systematic referencing required by scholarly writing. It does not 
claim to replace empirical surveys which, however, are still lacking to date regarding the 
actual state of affairs of higher education inspired by integral and likeminded approaches 
in Europe. Accordingly, at this stage, the essay is an exercise of awareness-raising to 
stimulate more and better collaboration across streams, disciplines and countries between 
those scholars, students and activists who are already inspired by integral and likeminded
approaches and interested or already engaged in developing and sustaining higher 
education programs according to a more integral spirit.  
  

                                                 

1 
 University of Luxembourg (www.uni.lu), and Institute for Integral Studies (www.integral-studies.org
2 
 The author is indebted to Roland Benedikter, Mark Edwards and Wendelin Küpers for their valuable 
comments on the unpublished 2005/2006 version of this essay, and to Philippe Blanca for his feedback on 
a draft of this completely revised edition. All weaknesses, however, have to be attributed to me as the 
author alone. 
Molz: Toward Integral Higher Education 

 

 

Keywords: Andragogy, European Higher Education Area, higher education, 
implementation, integral and likeminded approaches, knotworking, learning 
communities, macroshift, project-based learning, service learning, strategy, study 
programs, transformation, vocation. 

 

Table of Contents 

 

Overview ......................................................................................................................................................... 154  
Contexts .......................................................................................................................................................... 156  
Transformation of Society and Rise of Integral Consciousness ............................................................ 157  
Evolution of Research Paradigms .......................................................................................................... 162  
European Higher Education Area .......................................................................................................... 167  
Strategies ......................................................................................................................................................... 174  
Strategic Options for Developing Higher Education ............................................................................. 174  
Strategic Corridor for Building Integral Higher Education ................................................................... 179  
Contours .......................................................................................................................................................... 186  
Principles ................................................................................................................................................ 187  
Integral Learning Communities ............................................................................................................. 188  
Integral Andragogies .............................................................................................................................. 195  
Integral Organisations ............................................................................................................................ 205  
Call .................................................................................................................................................................. 214  
References ....................................................................................................................................................... 217  
Appendix ......................................................................................................................................................... 222  

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http://integral-review.org/documents/Molz, Toward Integral Higher Education, Vol. 5, No. 2.pdf

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