Liberal education is an approach to undergraduate education that promotes integration of learning across the curriculum and cocurriculum, and between academic and experiential learning, in order to develop specific learning outcomes that are essential for work, citizenship, and life.
In distilling the principles, practices, and contemporary challenges of liberal education, this signature AAC&U publication presents a clear vision of the learning all students need for success in an uncertain future and for addressing the compelling issues we face as a democracy and as a global community—regardless of where they study, what they major in, or what their career goals are.
The Essential Learning Outcomes define the knowledge and skills gained from a liberal education, providing a framework to guide students’ cumulative progress. Beginning in school, and continuing at successively higher levels across their college studies, students should prepare for twenty-first-century challenges by gaining:
Because they have been widely tested and shown to be beneficial for all students, including and especially those from demographic groups historically underserved by higher education, the eleven teaching and learning practices listed below have been designated as high-impact practices, or HIPs:
In Signature Work, students pursue an individual project related to a significant issue, problem, or question they define for themselves—immersing themselves in exploration, applying what they learn to real-world situations, and preparing to explain the significance of their work to others. Called “Signature Work” to reflect the high level of personalization and individual initiative involved, such a project bears the distinctive imprint of the interests, commitments, and cumulative learning of the student.
Authentic assessment is a distinctive approach to learning outcomes assessment that uses rubrics to evaluate the work students produce across their diverse learning pathways and whose results inform efforts to promote student success. This approach is embodied in AAC&U’s VALUE initiative.
Annual Meeting\
Drawing on the capacity for innovation demonstrated across higher education during the pandemic, the 2022 Annual Meeting will showcase and examine new models, practices, and solutions aimed at reinvigorating liberal education in service to democracy.
Publications\
This publication tells the LEAP story and situates it within the broader context of AAC&U’s work to integrally connect liberal learning with the wider world, and combine liberal education with inclusive excellence and equity.
Research\
AAC&U’s most recent survey of employers explores views on the value of a college degree, the educational outcomes and experiences most valued for hiring decisions, and perceptions of recent graduates’ levels of preparedness for workplace success.