Global Research Network for Liberal Arts Education

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The Global Research Network for Liberal Arts Education (GRN) was founded on June 19, 2015 by the Future Liberal Arts Colleges (FLAC) Research Team of the Institute of Educational Research and Service (IERS) at the International Christian University (ICU), the leading liberal arts college situated in a parkland-like campus on the outskirts of Tokyo. The GRN promotes collaborative, cross-cultural research endeavors, and develop face-to-face and virtual communities to build higher level of capacities of researchers and educators in liberal arts colleges/programs and research institutes in Asia and other parts of the world.

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Purpose
The Global Research Network for Liberal Arts Education (GRN) aims to promote collaborative research among researchers and educators from liberal arts colleges/programs and research institutes in Asia and other parts of the world to identify the advantages and challenges of liberal arts education in tertiary education, and explore policies and models for future development. The ultimate goal of GRN is to contribute to the improvement and wide dissemination of liberal arts education in Asia and beyond.

The short-and long-term priorities of GRN are:

To deepen understanding of liberal arts education in a specific socio-cultural context,
To design, develop and evaluate joint-courses/programs between liberal arts institutions in different parts of the world,
To examine possibilities of advanced technologies in improving access and quality of liberal arts education,
To examine key components of a liberal arts education system (e.g., governance, international education, cross-cultural aspects, residential living, key values and roles, curriculum and instruction, high impact activities etc.) in the context of an ever-changing global environment.
To explore various ways to improve liberal arts institutions at individual, policy and institutional, national, regional and international levels, and
To contribute to the future development of liberal arts education in the higher education context and obtain support for research on liberal arts education.

The major activities under GRN include:

Collaborative research projects;
Seminars, workshops and conferences;
Joint course development and evaluation;
Exchange of researchers and educators;
Proposal developments;
Joint publications; and
A website.

Events
Upcoming Event

Past Meetings (Photos)

The 2018 Spring Faculty Development Workshop was held between May 10th and 11th, 2018 at the International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan. It was funded by the United Board and ICU IERS (Global Research Network for Liberal Arts Education). Click HERE for the program.
The Faculty Development Forum on "Liberal Arts Education: A Global Dialogue on Teaching, Learning and Research" was held on 20 November, 2017 at the International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan. It was funded by the United Board and ICU, and supported by IERS, GRN and CTL.
The Panel Discussion on "Exploring Dimensions of Liberal Arts Education in East Asia: A Boon or Bane for Competitive Higher Education?" was held at the 17th International Conference on Education Research at Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (October 12-14, 2016).
The 4th workshop on "Doing Liberal Arts and Sciences Education: Promises and Possibilities" was held between 22 - 23 June, 2016 at the International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan. It was hosted by GRN.
The 3rd workshop on "Practicing Liberal Arts Education: Multicultural and multidisciplinary approaches" was held between 26 - 27 Feb. 2016 at the International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan. It was hosted by GRN.
The 2nd mini-workshop on “Implementation and Evaluation of Joint Liberal Arts Pilot Programs: Action Research” was held in the last week of Feb. 2016, at the International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan. It was hosted by GRN.
The 2015 "International Conference on Higher Education in East Asia" (with a special focus on internationalization in liberal arts colleges) was held on Nov. 14, 2015, at the International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan. It was hosted by GRN.
The 1st mini-workshop on “Liberal Arts Pilot Program Development & Global Research Network for Liberal Arts Education” was held between 18 - 19 June, 2015, at the International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan. Hosted by IERS and FLAC Research Team. Global Research Network for Liberal Arts Education (GRN) was established.

Recently Published and Forthcoming Books and Book Chapters

Nishimura M., Yokote H. (2020) Service-Learning as a Means to Understand Socio-Economic Privilege, Inequality, and Social Mobility. In: Sanger C., Gleason N. (eds) Diversity and Inclusion in Global Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.
Jung, I.S., Sanderson, S., & Fajardo, J.C. (2018). The core curriculum: An analysis of liberal arts colleges in Asia, North America and Europe. In M. Nishimura, & T. Sasao, (Eds), Doing liberal arts education: Global case studies. Singapore: Springer.
Nishimura, M., & Sasao, T. (Eds.) (2018). Doing liberal arts education: The global case studies. Springer.
Jung, I. S., Nishimura, M., & Sasao, T. (2016). Liberal arts education and colleges in East Asia: Possibilities and challenges in the global age. Springer.
Chopp, R., Frost, S., & Weiss, D.H. (Eds.) (2014). Remaking college: Innovation and the liberal arts. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Roth, M.S. (2014). Beyond the university: Why liberal education matters. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Xing, J., Ng, P.S., & Cheng, C.Y. (Eds.) (2013). General education and the development of global citizenship in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. New York: Routledge.
Docking, J. R., & Curton, C. C. (2015). Crisis in higher education: A plan to save small liberal arts colleges in America. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.