Educators from Europe, the Middle East, and the United States met in Vanderslice Hall on April 14 to trade views on the prospects for liberal arts education. There is “much interest in liberal arts around the world,” Philip G. Altbach, director of the Boston College Center for International Higher Education, which co-hosted the event, said in an interview, but this distinctly American curriculum remains “a minority phenomenon everywhere.” Boston College started an Institute for the Liberal Arts in 2007 to foster innovative, often interdisciplinary, liberal arts programs.
The half-day symposium was co-hosted by Amsterdam University College in the Netherlands. Among the speakers were (from left) Henry Rosovsky, former dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at Harvard University; Lisa Anderson, provost of American University of Cairo; and Altbach.