Yale-NUS College Symposium on 'Learning from Global Liberal Arts Education: Innovation and Resilience'

Distinguished guests,

Colleagues and students,

What a pleasure it is to welcome you today to this event. Nine years ago, when the College campus was inaugurated, Yale-NUS hosted its first Symposium on International Liberal Education. Then, the attendees discussed the challenges and trends taking place in higher education worldwide.

It feels only appropriate that our follow-up conference takes place now, close to a decade later, with many esteemed colleagues gathered here today, to discuss the varied experiences that we have gathered over the years. We were privileged to have heard Dr Marcia Grant’s insights on the ‘Global Adaptability of Liberal Arts Education’ yesterday, and I am looking forward to more fruitful discussions ahead.

Since Yale-NUS was founded, we have seen radical changes in education. We have seen liberal arts and science colleges around the world face numerous challenges including discussing how to diversify or decolonise or recontextualize their curriculums, we have had major shifts in Singapore to emphasise broadening disciplinary focus, and building a culture of lifelong learning. Worldwide we see a growing urgency to integrate technology into learning, and the incessant push to keep what is taught in universities relevant to the workplace.

All of these developments build on the best of the liberal arts tradition – an on-going push and pull to integrate and cater to different dynamics, recognising that learning is never static and in experiencing breadth one also builds a firm foundation for learning in depth.

Yale-NUS has always embodied these, as our College’s inaugural President Pericles Lewis noted in his opening address at our 2015 symposium when he said: “Yale-NUS embodies some dynamic tensions: between Asia and the West, of course, but also between tradition and modernity, between a classical education and preparedness for the modern world, and between the traditional liberal arts college and the modern research university.”

Yale-NUS has always sat at the nexus of these tensions. The Yale-NUS vision statement, crafted by the inaugural faculty and staff years ago, states that we are “A Community of Learning, Founded by two great universities, In Asia, for the world.”  As was already apparent when we chose those words, there are a number of these productive tensions built into our existence, and it is precisely in navigating these tensions that the dynamism and character of this College was forged.

This character has allowed us to lean into ambiguity, and encouraging our students, staff and faculty to be nimble acknowledging challenges and charting a path forward for our community.

I see this same resilience in the work of all our speakers today. Whether it is keeping the liberal arts tradition relevant in today’s volatile and complex world, or contextualising the liberal arts approach to different nations, economies and their geopolitical environments, it is clear that resilience and innovation – the very themes of our conference today – will be the tensions of the future.

Today, the world is increasingly interconnected but also more fractured. Challenges like rising income inequality, technological advancements, political divisions and sustainability are ones that not just governments but also higher education must address. How do we ensure that we are building models of education that are innovative enough to face the challenges ahead? And how do we intentionally build institutions that are resilient in the face of these challenges?

None of us can do this alone and that is why we are gathered here today to discuss these issues.

Fundamental to Yale-NUS’ vision is the fact that we learn in community, from our rich diversity of perspectives and experiences. We built this campus with small classes and a vibrant residential life for exactly this reason. In a similar way today’s symposium realises the power of diversity and unity, and the convening power of this space and place as we gather to learn from one another.

I’m delighted by the speakers that we have brought together, by the community of old friends and new who are here, and I am grateful to the team that has planned this symposium. I hope our time together will help us make real our greater aspiration to build a community and a space for learning in Asia, for the world.

I thank you for being here with us today and wish you all a productive symposium ahead.

Watch the speech here: