Cultivating Whole Persons through Liberal Arts Education: A Case Study of Three Universities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

Abstract

This study explores Liberal Arts Education (LAE) in three institutions in Chinese contexts to see how their LAE is designed and implemented toward whole person cultivation by nurturing students as responsible citizens with capabilities needed in the uncertain future of the 21st century. In contrast to human capital theory, the study takes the lens of the capabilities approach to examine liberal arts models and their innovative practices for nurturing the all-around development of critical thinking, civic engagement, and intercultural competence. The study adopts a mixed-methods design, using data such as curriculum documents, interviews with administrators and faculty members, and surveys with students and alumni. I examined how universities design and adapt LAE models into their social and cultural contexts. I found that the three universities integrated cultural tradition and social factors into their LAE, so as to form an ideal higher education with a focus on the value of person-making or whole person development rooted in a Chinese cultural tradition. There are also differences in LAE in the three societies with Yuanpei influenced by the socialist context in Mainland China, Lingnan situated in the practically oriented international city of Hong Kong, and greater emphasis on traditional Chinese culture and the influence of Christian tradition in Tunghai, situated in Taiwan. Following the common model of broad knowledge, residential learning, close student-faculty relationships, small-class teaching, and extra-curricular activities, the LAE in the three institutions constitutes an educational philosophy and mode of learning focusing on mentorship experience, participation, and an experiential process, which prepares students for future uncertainties with a sense of responsibility and capabilities both for personal flourishing and sustainable development. This educational philosophy and mode of learning can find its roots in both Western and Confucian learning approaches. Given the massification of higher education, findings from the three institutions indicated that LAE in these Chinese contexts has moved away from the elite status it often held in the past and is offered to the majority of students for the cultivation of abilities needed for the future. It thus contributes to inclusion and social equity in the 21st century.