This document discusses the critical role of higher education in fostering civic engagement and global competencies in students. It emphasizes that universities should make the development of personal and social responsibility in students a major focus and learning outcome. This involves promoting civic knowledge, intercultural skills, ethics and lifelong learning through experiences such as service learning, dialogue programs, and campus-community partnerships. While progress has been made, more needs to be done to ensure civic learning is a core, integrated part of the student experience and curriculum in higher education.

1. SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT, EDUCATION FOR
DEMOCRACY, AND GLOBAL
COMPETENCES:
HIGHER EDUCATION’S CRITICAL
MISSION IN THE 21 ST CENTURY
Caryn McTighe Musil and Kevin Hovland
Association of American Colleges and Universities
International Association of Universities
November 29, 2012

2. A GLOBAL CIVICS?
[I]n order to navigate our global interdependence,
we need processes where we all think through our
own responsibilities toward other fellow humans
and discuss our answers with our peers. A
conversation about a global civics is indeed needed,
and university campuses are ideal venues for these
conversations to start. . . we should not wait any
longer to start it.
Nobel Laureate Martti Ahtisaari
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

3. “WE BELIEVE THAT ECONOMIC
PRODUCTIVITY IS IMPORTANT BUT
MUST NOT BE CONFUSED WITH CIVIC
HEALTH.”
A Nation of Spectators, 1998
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

4. THREE GOALS FOR THIS SESSION
• Describe the US context for efforts to redefine questions
of educational quality by linking to the civic purposes of
college.
• Engage participants in conversation about similar efforts
around the world and/or the barriers to such efforts.
• Share examples of how colleges and universities are
designing curricular and co-curricular learning
opportunities to match their commitments to democratic
engagement.
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

5. THREADED DISCUSSIONS ON ENGAGEMENT,
DEMOCRACY, AND GLOBAL LEARNING
• Association of American Colleges and Universities
• Tri-National Seminar in 90s with India, South Africa, and
the US funded by the Ford Foundation
• International Consortium on Higher Education, Civic
Responsibility, and Democracy with the Council of Europe
• International Association of Universities
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

6. A PROPITIOUS MOMENT TO SEIZE
Democracy can survive only as strong democracy,
secured not by great leaders but by competent,
responsible citizens . . . . And citizens are certainly
not born, but made as a consequence of civic
education and political engagement in a free polity.
--Benjamin Barber
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

7. U.S. TRENDS THAT HAVE TURNED CAMPUS
LIFE INTO A PUBLIC COMMONS
• From monocultural space to multicultural space
• From access for the very few to access for the majority
• From talking about democracy to doing democracy
• From reaching out to the community to being part of the
community, both local and global
• From thinking of global as external and distinct to
recognizing the interwoven global elements of the
curriculum, campus life, and scholarship
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

8. Civic
Diversity
CAMPUS Diversity
Global
Civic
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

9. GLOBE
LOCAL COMMUNITY
AND NATION
CAMPUS
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

10. AAC&U’S LEAP--COLLEGE LEARNING FOR
THE NEW GLOBAL CENTURY
• The Essential Learning Outcomes
• The LEAP Principles of Excellence
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

11. URGENT GLOBAL CHALLENGES
REQUIRING INFORMED ACTION
• Poverty and structural violence
• Civil wars and global terror
• Environmental sustainability
• Illiteracy and inadequate education
• Gender inequities, human trafficking, violence
against women
• Refugees, immigration, dislocation
• Disease, health care, immunizations
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

12. GROUP DISCUSSION
• What issues or comments in this first part of our
discussion resonated or differed dramatically from
your institution or country?
• How are you defining the essential learning for a
high-quality college degree?
• What strategies have you employed to make higher
education a more valuable resource for critical
discernment, perspective-taking, and collective
problem solving through and across difference?
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

13. A CONSENSUS IN U.S. ABOUT AN
ESSENTIAL LEARNING OUTCOME
• Personal and Social Responsibility (PSR)
-- Civic knowledge and engagement—local and global
-- Diversity knowledge and intercultural competence
-- Ethical reasoning and action
-- Foundations and skills for lifelong learning
Anchored through active involvement with diverse
communities and real-world challenges
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

14. ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

15. DO STUDENTS SAY COLLEGE CONTRIBUTES
TO THEIR CIVIC GROWTH?
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

16. KEY FINDINGS FROM AAC&U PERSONAL AND
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INVENTORY (PSRI)
• Across all categories, students and campus
professionals strongly agree that personal
and social responsibility should be a major
focus of a college education.
• Across all groups surveyed, they also strongly
agree, however, that there is a clear gap
between what should be and what actually
is.
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

17. TROUBLING SIGNS IN U.S. DEMOCRACY
• Resurgent nativism and anti-immigrant attitudes and
policies
• Dynamically shifting racial categories even in the
midst of intensified racial segregation
• Inflammatory, vitriolic public discourse with little
regard for accuracy or facts
• Dysfunctional Congress and many state legislatures
• Assault on public, collective responsibilities and
campaign to affirm the individual as the carrier of
democracy and business as its guardian
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

18. BACHELOR’S DEGREE ATTAINMENT BY RACE
25-29 YEAR OLDS
40%
20%
0%
Hispanic, 11% Black, 18% White, 34%
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

19. BACHELOR’S DEGREE ATTAINMENT
BY FAMILY INCOME BY AGE 24
Top Income
Quartile, 75.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
Third Quartile,
50.0%
27.7%
40.0%
Second
30.0%
Bottom Quartile, 13.2%
20.0% Quartile,
8.6%
10.0%
0.0%
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

20. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HIGHER
EDUCATION
1. Foster a CIVIC ETHOS across all parts of the
campus and educational culture.
2. Make CIVIC LITERACY a core expectation for all
students.
3. Practice CIVIC INQUIRY across all fields of
study.
4. Advance CIVIC ACTION through transformative
partnerships, at home and abroad.
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

21. THE GOOD NEWS:
• The foundation has already been partially laid
• In the curriculum
• In new civic pedagogies
• In campus life
• In campus/community partnership and
engagement in collective problem solving with
others
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

22. THE BAD NEWS:
• It is
• Random
• Largely uncharted
• Lacking signage
• Without sufficient progression over time
• Optional
• Available to only some students
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

23. THE EMERGING DESIGNS OF 21 ST CENTURY
LIBERAL EDUCATION
• Curricular civic pathways
• Making civic and global literacy a core
expectation for all students in general
education programs
• Integrating civic and global inquiry into a
central field of study
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

24. OTHER DESIGNS TO BUILD UPON
• Powerful civic/global pedagogies
• Intergroup and deliberative dialogue
• Service Learning
• Collective problem solving
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

25. STUDENT LIFE AS ARENA FOR “DOING
DEMOCRACY”
• Student organizations
• Residential life activities
• Student-led civic projects
• Student activism on and off campus
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

26. INNOVATIONS ON THE EDGES:
NEW DEMOCRATIC SPACES
• Advancing Collaborative, Generative Civic
Partnerships and Alliances Integrated as
Dimension of Learning, Scholarship, and
Sustainable Development
• From charity to reciprocity to generative
partnership
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

27. Otis is training us to use the skills they have taught
us to solve the world’s problems. We work
together and learn from each other, because we
can’t save the world on our own.
--Student
Otis College of Art and
Design Student
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, WWW.AACU.ORG

28. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT
Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Scholar and Director of
Civic Learning and Democracy Initiatives
musil@aacu.org
Kevin Hovland, Senior Director of Global Learning
and Curricular Change
hovland@aacu.org
Association of American Colleges and Universities
www.aacu.org
To download or order A Crucible Moment, see:
http://www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible/index.cfm
Also see AAC&U quarterly Diversity & Democracy:
http://www.diversityweb.org/DiversityDemocracy/index.cfm