The study of the liberal arts dates back to ancient Greece. Originally, these were conceived as seven distinct areas of study: grammar, logic, rhetoric, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic and music. As knowledge and learning have changed over time, many of the original liberal arts are now considered to be sciences. In modern higher education, the liberal arts are most commonly understood to be disciplines within the humanities, social sciences and fine arts.
While once the heart of higher education, liberal arts programs in Canada and the U.S. are now facing cutbacks like never before. This year alone we learned about the phasing out of fine arts programs at Thompson Rivers University in Canada, while in the U.S. there have been cuts to liberal arts programs at Clarkson University, Marymount University, Lasell University, Simmons University and West Virginia University.
Enrolment declines are a major factor in decisions to cut liberal arts programs. Statistics Canada has shown a decline in humanities enrolments between 2016-2020, and in 2021, CBC reported that enrolments in Western University’s arts and humanities programs had dropped by 28% in the past decade. This trend is visible across the United States as well. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education show declining enrolments in liberal arts and humanities programs over the past 10 years alongside rising enrolments in business and STEM programs.
Another factor affecting decisions to cut liberal arts programs is a lack of funding. A 2016 article published by TVO Today pointed out that humanities funding in Canada is in steep decline while STEM program funding is on the rise. This funding trend has been reported in the U.S. as well. Further, if we look at performance-based funding mechanisms in Ontario, it is clear that funding is more readily allocated to programs that can demonstrate achievement on metrics related to employment. Unfortunately, this poses a great challenge for liberal arts programs (especially humanities programs), which often struggle to demonstrate achievement on such metrics – putting them at risk of funding loss.
STEM and business programs are often favoured by students, parents and funders over liberal arts programs because they are perceived to have clearer and more stable ties to employment outcomes. Students recognize the importance of employability – in fact, it is top of mind. According to the Canadian University Survey Consortium’s 2022 survey of first-year students, the top reason students identified for undertaking university education was to develop career readiness. However, there is also a lack of understanding about career options for liberal arts graduates among many students, and a general belief that graduates of other programs are better prepared for employment.
“Liberal arts graduates are uniquely equipped with a variety of skills and knowledge when they transition out of university and into the working world.”
One potential solution to this problem is to change the way we talk about the value of the liberal arts. Public discourse suggesting that the liberal arts are not useful or relevant is damaging but not new: A 2018 article in The Atlantic traced this discourse back to 1964, around the same time that Ontario colleges were gaining popularity as an employment-focused alternative to university education. This was the beginning of the binary belief that liberal education cannot also support employability, which we must work against when re-framing our conversations about liberal arts education.
Liberal arts graduates are uniquely equipped with a variety of skills and knowledge when they transition out of university and into the working world. For example, Universities Canada has shown that liberal arts students possess a number of valuable transferrable skills that are sought after by employers, including communication, teamwork and collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking and relationship-building. The same article shows that graduates of humanities and social sciences also demonstrate steady growth in earnings throughout their career, in contrast to the ups and downs experienced by mathematics and natural science graduates.
Unfortunately, in many cases, liberal arts students struggle to identify and speak to these skills when applying for jobs. The Future Ready Skills Translator project at Mohawk College in Hamilton, ON has called this a “skills articulation gap.” The project aims to bridge that gap through facilitating dialogue between employers and students, with employers better describing what they look for in new hires and and students more effectively connecting their learning and experience to employer needs. Another new program – the King’s Promise program at King’s University College in London, ON – helps students develop competency in skills articulation through a series of experiential learning activities and reflective writing exercises.
In conclusion, student career development requires a great deal of collaboration between multiple stakeholders including students, career support practitioners, employers, community partners and faculty who can integrate career-related language into the curriculum. We must build a culture of career readiness on our campuses and in our communities, challenging outdated assumptions about the value of certain degrees over others and instead highlighting the holistic qualities and competencies that all graduates of higher education bring to the world. This is a call to action for all stakeholders to work together to support the career success of future generations by re-valuing the essential impact and contributions of the liberal arts.
