국립 리버럴아츠칼리지 설립의 교육적 타당성 고찰

Abstract

Aiming for normalizing general education and promoting the humanities and basic sciences, universities are emerging that seek to be ‘Korean liberal arts college.’ Liberal arts colleges that have developed in the US are a few selected residential colleges which pursue liberal arts education. There is no liberal arts college in Korea with its original literal meaning. Absence of liberal arts college has incurred distortion and deadlock in ecosystem of higher education. State should serve as a driver for characterization and diversification of universities through their functional differentiation and division of role. It is necessary to seek for establishing ‘national liberal arts college’ in order to settle general education paradigm focusing on the humanities and basic sciences. Significance of liberal arts colleges is identified through cases of US’s top ranked liberal arts colleges that are educationally competitive in spite of global crisis of liberal arts education; Yale-NUS College that promotes global diffusion of liberal arts college model; Akita International University in Japan which is a transformed liberal arts college, etc. National liberal arts college is to build up an ideal model for Korean liberal arts education. It is national efforts to revive moribund general education and to promote the humanities and basic sciences withering into insignificance. It aims for balanced development of general education and major coursework; doubling of synergy among the humanities and basic sciences and applied sciences and; healthy ecosystem between national and private universities. Establishment of national liberal arts college would bring a turning point to promote normalization of general education; seek for vitalization of the humanities and basic sciences and; promote qualitative improvement of higher education.