Exploring Improvement Possibility of Undergraduate Liberal Arts Education Inspired by European Liberal Arts and Science Model

Abstract

In order to improve liberal arts education in Korean universities, it is necessary to analyze the characteristics of European Liberal Arts & Science [LAS] programs. This is because LAS in Europe reflects the orientation of modern liberal arts education such as universal, academic, and contemporary property, and can supplement the limitations of the Korean liberal arts curriculum, which is heavily influenced by sub-disciplines. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of the European University College [UC]s’ Liberal Arts & Science model for undergraduate liberal arts education in Korean universities. To this end, text data of three European UCs and Amsterdam UC [AUC] were collected, preprocessed, and then analyzed using techniques such as frequency analysis, topic modeling, and a semantic network. By comparing the results of the frequency analysis, 14 common keywords were extracted and classified into universal (<i>social, human, public, development</i>), academic (<i>research, science, knowledge, skills, analysis</i>), and contemporary (<i>international, global, contemporary, data, economic</i>) orientation. In the structure of the semantic network, some keywords were assigned in several topics. As a result of analyzing 5 keywords of 8 topics in the course titled Data of AUC LAS, 18 of 226 courses included an Introduction. 11 of them are introductory courses of convergence and 7 are theme-oriented courses, which is different from the cases in Korea, which are mostly focused on introductory courses in sub-disciplines. Based on the analysis of texts of AUC LAS, this paper proposes three things: the introduction of a coordinator system and convergence courses, the strengthening of the role of advisors, and the development of teaching-learning methods. The results of these discussions based on text data analysis can be used to improve the standards of liberal arts education in Korea or to reorganize liberal arts education at each university. They can also be used as a reference when developing and managing educational programs such as in institutions dedicated to liberal arts education, university colleges, and departments for self-designing curriculum at Korean universities.