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