Reinventing Liberal Arts

Abstract

Reinvention an International Journal of Undergraduate Research is delighted to welcome and introduce a new section housing research and critical reflections from the liberal arts, supported by the UK's Liberal Arts Northern Network. The new pairing offers a thoughtful synergy between the scope of research in context and interdisciplinary communication for Reinvnetion and the interdisciplinary and contextual nature of liberal arts study.

Dr Caroline Starkey, one of the co-founders of the UK's Liberal Arts Northern Network introduces our new Liberal Arts Special Section, reflecting on the importance and benefits of the interdisciplinary variation of Liberal Arts courses, that many courses have at their hearts an experiential learning approach - where students learn by engaging with, and reflecting on, ‘real world’ tasks. Liberal Arts has a long and consequential history based in the US however the modern formation of Liberal Arts is a relative newcomer to the UK Higher Education scene. Over the past fifteen years or so, nearly forty named Liberal Arts courses have been developed for undergraduate students at UK universities, taking initial inspiration from the long-established US model but reinventing it for the UK. This new special section offers a new insight into the emerging research in Liberal Arts not only in the UK but acorss the world.