WORKSHOP LEADER
Rowland Smith
University of CalgaryRAPPORTEUR
Helen Rodney,
Canadian Embassy Berlin
The workshop series International Dialogue on Education Berlin is a joint initiative of the British Council Germany, the German Academic Exchange Service, the German-American Fulbright Commission, the Australian Group of Eight and the Canadian Bureau for International Education in Berlin.
Through the contributions of international participants the series aims to enrich the debate on science, research and higher education policy in Germany, to place German perspectives in a global context and to learn from positive examples from other countries.
Workshop 3 - Canada
Breadth and Liberal Education in the first degree
This workshop gives a brief general description of the Canadian post-secondary system. Since the responsibilities for Post-Secondary Education rest with provinces, there are differences among those provinces in the length of degrees and in the range of "college" or non-degree granting post-secondary institutions.
Despite these differences from the Bologna system, the basic divisions in the Canadian university system of Bachelor's degree to Master's degree to Doctorate are not very different from the Bologna 3-2-2, but the concept of liberal education in many Canadian university programs is a well-advanced feature in the completion of the first degree, normally seen as a Bachelor's degree. There are direct entries into many strictly professional degrees in Canadian universities but my paper will not consider those professional programs. Rather it will look at the general bachelor's degree programs in the Arts, Sciences and Social Sciences with, particular emphasis on the element of breadth (rather than specialisation) conventionally required in Canadian degrees - and the effect this system has on international agreements.
Of particular interest will be a brief description of models of specialised crossdisciplinary programmes designed for a core of students at some universities who work and study together - usually in a combination of lectures and tutorials - in courses that meet the breadth requirements of their degree specializing in a single subject and also attract a group of students with a wide range of interests and talents.
