In Asia, for the world: Liberal education and innovation

Abstract

This chapter explores the ways in which both new and old institutions might leverage the past successes and challenges of liberal education systems in order to create a form of education that emblematizes, promotes, and sustains innovation. Yale-NUS College’s common curriculum encompasses both Asian and Western influences in humanistic, social, and scientific studies. Students participate in on-campus communities of learning while expanding the scope of inquiry outwards through research trips and internships. In drawing together a highly international group of students and challenging them to create connections across time, space, and cultures, this form of liberal education teaches students to take risks and experiment so that they in turn may become innovators in the university and in the world.