Liberal Education in Russia and the World

International conference "Liberal Education in Russia and the World" (58–60 Galernaya Street).

Organizing Committee

• Aleksei Kudrin (SPbU)
• Leon Botstein (Bard College, USA)
• Valery Monakhov (SPbU)
• Jonathan Becker (Bard College, USA)
• Susan Gillespie (Bard College, USA)

Program Committee

• Denis Akhapkin (SPbU)
• Tatiana Chernigovskaya (SPbU)
• Marina Kalashnikova (SPbU)
• Vadim Kasevich (SPbU)
• Elena Kazakova (SPbU)
• Elena Khodorkovskaya (SPbU)
• Artemy Magun (SPbU)
• Alexander Semyonov (SPbU)
• Marianna Shakhnovich (SPbU)
• Olga Voronina (Bard College, USA)

Program

October 4

9:00am Registration

10:00am Opening of the conference. Welcome and preliminary remarks: Aleksei Kudrin (SPbU), Leon Botstein (Bard College, USA), Valery Monakhov (SPbU)

11:00am Coffee break

11:15am Plenary Session. The Liberal Arts in Russia and Post-Soviet Space. Chairs: Aleksei Kudrin (SPbU), Leon Botstein (Bard College, USA)

• Denis Akhapkin (SPbU) "Liberal Arts in the System of Russian Higher Education"
• Andrey Zorin (Oxford University, UK) "Liberal Arts Education: Problems of the Russian Context"
• Ilia Kukulin (Higher School of Economics, Moscow) "The Concept of Liberal Arts Education and the Choice of Career as Presented to High-School Students and Parents in Contemporary Russia"
• Jerzy Axer ("Artes Liberales Institute" Foundation; University of Warsaw, Poland) "Liberal Arts Education in Eastern Europe: Chances and Challenges"
• Andrew Wachtel (American University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan) "Liberal Arts in Central Asia: Content, Form, or Both?"

1:30pm Lunch

3:00pm Panel A. Networking of Liberal Arts Institutions. Chairs: Jonathan Becker (Bard College, USA), Vadim Kasevich (SPbU)

• Kevin Hovland (Association of American Colleges and Universities, USA) "A Century of Leadership for Liberal Education in the United States"
• Thomas Rommel (ECLA of Bard, Germany) "Liberal Arts Networks in Europe: For Present Comfort and for Future Good"
• Valery Monakhov (SPbU) "Development of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Russian Educational Space and the Prospect of Networking"

5:00pm Coffee break

5:30pm Panel "Visions of Liberal Arts in the 21st Century." Chairs: Patricia Graham (Harvard University, USA), Tatiana Chernigovskaya (SPbU). Discussants: Sergey Kropotov (Yekaterinburg Academy of Contemporary Art), Leon Botstein (Bard College, USA)

• Tatiana Chernigovskaya (SPbU) "Convergence of Science and Its Place in the Modern World"
• Presentation by Sergey Zuev (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow)
• Svetlana Karas (Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Moscow) "Music Within the System of Liberal Education"

October 5

10:00am Panel "The Socially Responsible University." Chairs: Vincent McGee (Gagarin Trust; City University of New York, USA), Marianna Shakhnovich (SPbU)

• Dmitry Dubrovsky (SPbU; Russian Museum of Ethnography) "Human Rights Education, Civil Engagement and Citizens' Responsibility"
• Pavel Tereshkovich (European Humanities University, Lithuania) "Liberal Arts Education and the Belarusian Educational Landscape: The Case of EHU"
• Voldemar Tomusk (International Higher Education Support Program, Hungary) "The University's Social Mission after 'Cooling-out'"
• Jonathan Becker (Bard College, USA) "The Civically Engaged University in the 21st Century"
• Tatiana Petrova (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Moscow) "The Social Mission of the University: The Russian Tradition of Liberal Education"

Roundtable discussion. Liberal Education in Russia: Practice, Perspectives, Partnerships. Chairs: Vadim Kasevich (SPbU), Elena Kazakova (SPbU)

• Yulia Gritskevich, Svetlana Sedunova (Pskov State University) "Adult Education: Problems and Prospects of Development"
• Svetlana Gusova (Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow) "Ethical Liberalism in the Context of Liberal Education: L. Tolstoy and K. Ventzel"
• Yulia Nazarova (Tula State Pedagogical University) "Liberalism as the Social and Cultural Foundation of Liberal Arts Education"
• Elena Meleshko (Tula State Pedagogical University) "Innovative Trends in Liberal Education: Educational Experience of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Tula State Pedagogical University"
• Vera Kolkutina, Nina Snetova (Perm State National Research University) "The Connection of Science and the Humanities and the Actualization of This Connection as a Principle of Liberal Education"
• Marina Kalashnikova (SPbU) "The Third Generation of Federal State Educational Standards for Higher Professional Education in 'Arts and Humanities' (Educational Track 035300): Opportunities and Limits"

11:30am Coffee break

12:00pm Panel "Liberal Arts in the Context of Challenges to Higher Education." Chairs: Aleksei Kudrin (SPbU), Jerzy Axer ("Artes Liberales Institute" Foundation; University of Warsaw, Poland)

• Mikhail Sokolov (EUSP) "Conspicuous Consumption of Higher Learning and Creeping Liberalization of Curriculum in Russian Universities"
• Patricia Graham (Harvard University, USA) "Why Liberal Arts?"
• Artemy Magun (SPbU; EUSP) "Maneuvering Between Two Dangers: Post-Soviet Inertia and Neo-Liberal Reform in Russian Higher Education"
• Carlin Romano (Ursinus College, USA) "Is the American University Going to Hell? Overview from a Critic-at-Large"
• Alexander Semyonov (SPbU; Higher School of Economics) "Is History a Liberal Arts Discipline?"
• Fried Keesen (University College Utrecht, Netherlands) "University College Utrecht: Bologna Pioneer in the Netherlands"

1:30pm Lunch

3:00pm Open Forum. Perspectives for the Collaboration of Russian Universities in the Development of Liberal Education. Moderators: Valery Monakhov (SPbU), Jonathan Becker (Bard College, USA)

4:00pm Workshop. The Smolny Approach to Liberal Arts Education: Structures and Practice. Facilitators: Denis Akhapkin, Marina Kalashnikova (SPbU)

Panel "Liberal Arts Education in the European Academic Environment." Chairs: Antonia Gohr (Jacobs University Bremen, Germany), Catherine Toal (ECLA of Bard, Germany)

• Antonia Gohr (Jacobs University Bremen, Germany) "Liberal Arts Education in Europe—Concepts and Challenges"
• Anatoliy Mikhailov (European Humanities University, Lithuania) "Challenges of Liberal Arts Education: Between Knowing and Thinking"
• Orlanda Lie (University College Utrecht, Netherlands) "European Liberal Arts: Breadth and Depth at University College Utrecht"
• Jan Apel (Gotland University, Sweden) "Liberal Arts Education at Gotland University"
• Dimitri Mironov (Tallinn University, Estonia) "Liberal Arts as a Means of Internationalization of Education: The Experience of Tallinn University"

5:30pm Coffee break

5:45pm Roundtable discussion. Liberal Arts Partnerships. Chairs: Leon Botstein (Bard College, USA), Daria Pushkina (SPbU)

• Munther Dajani (Al-Quds University, Palestinian Territories) "What Liberal Arts and Sciences Education Is? Letting Go or Better Yet, Striking a Balance"
• Andrew Wachtel (American University of Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan) "Serving Two Masters: Local vs International Visions of the University"
• Daria Pushkina (SPbU) "Educational R2P—Responsibility to Partnerships"
• Thomas Rommel (ECLA of Bard, Germany) "Your Partner in this Cause: The Benefits of Liberal Arts Partnerships from a Berlin Perspective"
• Susan Gillespie (Bard College, USA) "Translating Ideas into Institutional Practice: Cases and Conundrums"

6:45pm Closing of the Conference. Final remarks: Aleksei Kudrin (SPbU), Leon Botstein (Bard College, USA)