Liberal Arts in Islamic Higher Education in the Era of Disruption

1. Liberal Arts in Islamic Higher Education in the Era of Disruption Anis Malik Thoha Unissula

2. Introduction • The era of disruption and the Era of uncertainty • The Chairman and CEO at Gallup, Jim Clifton in his article published on May 19, 2016: “Universities: Disruption Is Coming,” opens it up with questions: Do we need universities anymore? What if they ran out of customers?

3. Introduction • Think about it: Which is more indispensable to you in your job -- your university education or the university you have in your pocket, your smartphone? • Change is coming one way or another. Universities have to decide whether they want to lead the change or become the next victims of disruption. • (https://news.gallup.com/opinion/chairman/191633/universities-disruption-coming.aspx)

4. Introduction • Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring, The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out (San Fransisco: Josse-Bass, 2011). • Introduction: Ripe for Disruption – Innovation • Part Three: Ripe for Disruption

5. Introduction • Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring opined: • “A disruptive technology, online learning, is at work in higher education, allowing both for-profit and traditional not-for-profit institutions to rethink the entire traditional higher education model. Private universities without national recognition and large endowments are at great financial risk. So are public universities, even prestigious ones …” • Google announced it is hiring employees without college degrees, and Ernst & Young made a similar decision in the U.K. last fall. Both organizations see less value in a traditional college degree.

6. How real is this future for universities? • Panics? • Still remember the issue of Millennium Bug? • Different responses: • Some questioned the challenge, such as the President and Vice-Chancellor of Monash, Professor Margaret Gardner. • Many are ready to adopt the change by ensuring and strengthening the liberal Arts Education

7. How real is this future for universities? • Professor Margaret Gardner argues with the growing trends in the universities: • Globalisation, Student mobility across countries in search of higher education has never been greater. • Massification, the massification of higher education. This is the shift to provide higher education to a larger proportion of the population in recognition of the need for higher skills for future employment • Innovation, Universities are an integral part of every technological disruption we will experience.

8. How real is this future for universities? • The path to disruption of universities is neither smooth nor assured – for a number of reasons: • The need for interaction between student and teacher in learning and teaching. • The requirement for certification of knowledge acquired by the student. • The increasing tendency for recognition or certification of the quality of the institution providing the degree. • https://www.monash.edu/about/structure/senior-staff/president-and-vice-chancellor/profile/vice-chancellors-speeches/education-in-the-age-of-disruption

9. The Liberal Arts • Commonly Confused Terms: • Liberal Education: An approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g., science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education helps students develop a sense of social responsibility as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.

10. The Liberal Arts • The Liberal Arts: Specific disciplines (e.g., the humanities, sciences, arts, and social sciences) • Liberal Arts College: A particular institutional type­­­—often small, often residential—that facilitates close interaction between faculty and students, while grounding its curriculum in the liberal arts disciplines. • ArtesLiberales: Historically, the basis for the modern liberal arts:  the trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music). • General Education: The part of a liberal education curriculum that is shared by all students, provides broad learning in liberal arts and science disciplines, and forms the basis for the development of important intellectual, civic, and practical capacities. General education can take many forms, and it increasingly includes introductory, advanced, and integrative forms of learning.

11. The Liberal Arts • What is a Liberal Arts Education? • A liberal arts education refers to college studies that provide general knowledge and develop intellectual ability. This type of education can prepare you for many fields in today's workplace. • Liberal Arts Education Benefits • Prepares students to work in a variety of jobs. This is different from other types of education where students develop professional or vocational skills for a specific job.

12. The Liberal Arts • Degree is appealing to employers. Employers like liberal arts graduates because they have the skills necessary to adapt in a changing workplace. Employers desire transferable skills (skills employees take with them to any job) typical of a liberal arts education. These include written and verbal communication skills and the ability to solve complex problems and work well with others. • Provides an excellent foundation for graduate study in health care, law, business, or other fields. Graduate schools look for candidates who will succeed in graduate-level study. Students with a liberal arts background are appealing, because they demonstrate an ability to learn across a diverse field of studies.

13. The Liberal Arts • Creates graduates who are equipped with the skills to become valuable community members. The value of a liberal arts education goes far beyond its economic value. Graduates understand problems, generate solutions, and communicate those solutions to others. In many ways, a liberal arts education is education for life. It prepares graduates who can adapt and thrive in an ever-changing world.

14. Foreseeable Effects: Another Disruption • The negative effects of Western/secular epistemology and education: • human catastrophe (disruption of humanity; and • natural catastrophe (disruption Nature), such as global warming, environmental crisis, etc.

15. Another Disruption… • William Blum, America’s Deadliest Export: Democracy - The Truth About US Foreign Policy and Everything Else (London and New York: Zed Books, 2013).

16. Ditarikkebelekang: Penjajahanbangsa-bangsa Asia, Afrika, danAmerka Latin olehbangsakulitputihberabad-abad. • Perbudakan (dehumanization) • Tergerusnyainstitusikeluarga (family disintegration, single parents, LGBT, etc.) • Terancamnyaexistensimanusia di atasbumi (demographic crisis)

17. Another Disruption… • Harry Lewis, Excellence Without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future?(Philadelphia: Public Affairs, 2007) • “Harvard articulates no ideals of what it means to be a good person, as opposed to a well person.” (p. 160)

18. The Need for Islamic Educational Reform • Comprehensive and holistic reform, meliputi: • Vision & Mission • Design Program Akademik • Kurikulum Pendidikan • Riset dan Publikasi • Sumberdaya Insani (Human Resources)

19. Conclusion

20. Conclusion

21. Conclusion • Islamization must be understood as a process of change or reconstruction of the philosophy of the reality and its underlying value system according to Islamic teachings and refers to the prophetic agenda, which successively and respectively became the main mission of the Prophets and Messengers throughout the ages, and has then been taken over and continued by their legitimate heirs, i.e, Ulamā‘ (scholars – those who are given knowledge).