Los Estudios Generales, paso indispensable a una verdadera universalidad en la educación superior
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15359/rnh.1-1.1Keywords:
universalism, university, neoliberalism, education, General StudiesAbstract
From its origins, universities where conceived as a space to express and foster the universalism of knowledge; or in other words, as a place in which human knowledge can be transmitted and disseminated. Today, this essential mission of universities is in danger of disappearing as the result of neoliberal policies and programs of structural adjustment that promote a market oriented approach to education, and therefore, policies that are transforming institutions of higher education into enterprises that have profit as their main goal, and by which universalism is almost entirely eliminated from the curricula in order to implement an education highly specialized and with a very superficial and virtual understanding of the humanities.
Within this context, General Studies assume great relevance precisely because of their universalist and inter-disciplinary perspective, not only as the product of the diversity of their academic curricula, but also as the result of scholars from different disciplines, who interact on a daily basis in manifold ways in the same department, thereby offering to students at the freshman level a rich immersion in both classical and modern studies, before they become more specialized in the academic program of their choice.
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