2023 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 145-150
This roundtable session aims to 1) review the discourse on the purpose and content of liberal arts education in the United States, Korea, and Japan, and 2) examine features that characterize the uniqueness and challenges of liberal arts education in Japan. The U.S. case study based on the comparison of liberal arts education in three research universities highlighted the diversity of mission and function while at the same time, revealing similarities in the learning outcomes being pursued as well as the overall curriculum structure. The Korean case study based on the overview of policies and organizational structure of liberal arts education highlighted the introduction of standardized liberal arts education curricula based on a “national liberal arts policy,” and its diversification after the university autonomy policy in the 1990s, which allowed a greater variety of course content for students to choose from. Guidance for universities to support the implementation of liberal arts education has also been provided by nationwide academic associations. The Japanese case study revealed the difficulty of identifying common functions and contents of liberal arts education, forcing liberal arts education to remain an abstract concept. However, it was suggested that this abstractness creates the potential for innovation in university education.
