At home with liberal arts

Students of the "global learning" semester take a printmaking class taught by Duke professor Merrill Shatzman. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The students will receive a dual degree from Duke University and Duke Kunshan University, which is accredited by China's Ministry of Education, and they will have the chance to spend at least one semester at Duke University. Duke Kunshan University will implement the liberal arts education model for its undergraduate studies.

Liberal arts education is an idea of training somebody in a manner that their "intelligence can be active, versatile and adaptive" over the course of their whole lives, says Richard Brodhead, president of Duke University.

"We are trying to train students to understand the different faces that belong to every problem," he tells China Daily in Beijing. "We're looking to create something where students aren't the passive receivers of knowledge."

The undergraduate program will offer eight majors, including material science, environmental science and global China studies. The university has prepared a new curriculum with the help of a Duke faculty committee based on general trends in global liberal arts education and higher education in China.

Gao Haiyan, the vice-chancellor for academic affairs at Duke Kunshan University, says the curriculum is both integrated and interdisciplinary.

"Very few universities in the US are doing that. I'm aware that Princeton and Virginia Tech are doing so," she says. "Our integrated science curriculum is really designed for anybody interested in studying here and this new form of integrated learning."

For social sciences, there will be two foundational courses.