Learning in Public: Connecting Politics Students with Practitioners in ‘the Edgeless University’
| Published date | 01 December 2010 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.2041-9066.2010.00040.x |
| Author | Steven Curtis |
| Date | 01 December 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Feature |
in the classroom or in society more
generally.
But in large measure this reticence
is also down to my experience as a
student of politics and international
relations two decades ago. I am
very much the product of a system
in which the practical relevance of
the subjects I studied was at least
implicitly rebuffed, and in which
dispassionate and detached analysis
was the primary goal.
Clearly there remains a central
place for this traditional approach to
learning in higher education today.
Indeed, one of my most rewarding
experiences every year remains intro-
ducing second-year undergraduate
students to the labyrinthine ways of
contemporary international relations
theory. However, in those regions of
the curriculum that more closely ap-
proximate real-world political activ-
ity, there are palpable pay-offs from
engaging students with the world be-
yond the campus and putting them
in touch with practitioners.
Beyond the Ivory Tower:
Eroding the Borders of the
University
The system of higher education
in Britain has undergone radical
change in the past 20 years in a
number of ways. The destruction of
the distinction – in form if not al-
ways in content – between universi-
ties and polytechnics, the ‘ widening
Learning in Public:
Connecting Politics Students with Practitioners
in ‘the Edgeless University’
‘It makes you want to do more.’
Coming across this statement,
from the transcript of a recent
focus group of students discussing the
educational use of blogs, gave me a bit
of a jolt. Pretty much the same com-
ment had been made by a student I
had interviewed five years earlier. He
had just returned from a short place-
ment with a Member of the European
Parliament and was clearly still fired
up by the experience.
These almost identical assertions
indicate that both placements and
blogging have the capacity to mo-
tivate students and to engage them
more deeply with their studies.
Despite the many differences, both
activities involved reaching out be-
yond the confines of the university,
revealing the potential educational
benefits of ‘learning in public’.
Such bold, broad claims for the
advantages of a public dimension in
improving students’ experiences of
degree programmes, tantamount al-
most to a manifesto for the transfor-
mation of higher education, still does
not sit comfortably with me, despite
having seen the evidence through
my work on a number of learn-
ing and teaching research projects
over the past five years. Part of this
unease no doubt stems from an in-
nate English reluctance to embrace
grand visions and totalising missions.
I have always seen myself as more in
tune with William Blake’s argument
that, to do good, one ‘must do it in
Minute Particulars’, whether this be
Learning should not stop at the campus gates, says Steven Curtis. Direct experience with real-
world politics can enrich students’ understanding of politics and international relations, and
also enhance their personal development and employability.
participation’ agenda, led to the
rapid expansion in the numbers
of young people benefiting from
university education. The chang-
ing profile of undergraduates has
made the notion of so-called ‘non-
traditional’ students appear increas-
ingly tenuous. At the same time,
budgetary restrictions and recently
announced spending cuts, recurrent
demands by government, employ-
ers and students alike that higher
education should better prepare
graduates for the world of work,
and the revolution in information
and com munication s techn ology,
have together had a major impact
on the nature of higher education.
Peter Bradwell coined the phrase
‘the edgeless university’ to capture
the way higher education has been
transformed as a result of these
developments. While the univer-
sity remains one of the few places
in contemporary society for quiet
contemplation, it is not always the
retreat from mundane reality that it
once was.
Nevertheless, there are pro-
found educational benefits to be
had by embracing some of these
university–society border crossings,
which should not only be thought
of in terms of improving students’
employability: there is more at stake
than that. There are numerous ways
to connect students with the outside
world, from placements and visits to
simulations, blogs and even modules
promoting political activism.
Engaging
students with
the world
beyond the
campus can
have palpable
pay-os
93December 2010
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