Get perspectives right and develop well-rounded citizens by facilitating linkages between science, social sciences and humanities
The concept of holistic academic education was an idea of Wilhelm von Humboldt, a Prussian philosopher, government functionary and diplomat of Germany. The Humboldtian model of higher education is a concept of academic education that emerged in the early 19th century, whose core idea was a holistic combination of research and studies.
Sometimes called simply the Humboldtian model, it integrates the arts and sciences with research to achieve both comprehensive general learning and cultural knowledge, and it is still followed today. Humboldt’s model was based on two ideas of the Enlightenment: the individual and the world citizen. Humboldt believed that the university should enable students to become autonomous individuals and world citizens by developing their own reasoning powers in an environment of academic freedom.
Academic Freedom
He envisaged an ideal education, which aimed not merely to provide professional skills through schooling along with a fixed path but rather to allow students build individual character by choosing their own way.
Humboldt believed that teaching should be guided by current research, and that research should be unbiased and independent from ideological, economic, political or religious influences. The Humboldtian model strives for unconditional academic freedom in the intellectual investigation of the world, both for teachers and students. The study should be guided by humanistic ideals and free thought, and knowledge should be formed on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism rather than authority, tradition or dogma.
In line with the basic concept of Science (Wissenschaft), Humboldt regarded philosophy as the link between the different academic disciplines, which include both humanities and natural sciences. Humboldt encouraged the University of Berlin to operate according to scientific, as opposed to market-driven, principles such as curiosity, freedom of research, and internal objectives. The University of Berlin, founded in 1810 under the influence of Wilhelm von Humboldt and renamed the Humboldt University of Berlin after World War II, is seen as the model institution of the 19th century.
Driven by Research
The above mentioned principles, in particular, the idea of the research-based university, rapidly made an impact both in Germany and abroad. The Humboldtian university concept profoundly influenced higher education throughout central, eastern, and northern Europe as well as in the US. This European brand of research-intensive universities became the role model for universities in the US such as Harvard (Cambridge, MA), Yale (New Haven, CT) and Cornell (Ithaca, NY).
In the 1970s, breakthrough discoveries in biotechnology and patent legislation favouring market-oriented research such as the Bayh–Dole Act in the US allowed for the creation of research partnerships between universities and industry with the objective of rapidly bringing innovations to market.
A similar development took place in all industrial countries, based on proposals of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. This innovation of the ‘market university’ as an economic engine, which first emerged in the US, diverges from Humboldt’s principles. Recent developments and changes like widening participation in and the marketisation of higher education related to the emergence of neoliberalism have challenged those old ideals.
However, outside the academic realm, the world has also changed markedly since Humboldt’s time. The ‘advanced’ nations have been moving away from the manufacturing-based economies that sustained them throughout the 20th century, towards so-called knowledge-based economies that rely heavily on scientific research and a trained workforce. As such, these nations no longer compete for industrial capacity or access to natural resources but rather for skilled workers, intellectual property and knowledge.
In this context, philosopher Julian Nida-Ruemelin criticised discrepancies between Humboldt’s ideals and the contemporary European education policy, which narrowly understands education as a preparation for the labour market, and argued that we need to decide between McKinsey and Humboldt.
Education is free in Germany and many European countries and these countries have been taking forward and reinventing novel teaching and research experiments based on Humboldt’s model where students would receive all-around education in natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, and where teaching and research are integrated.
Life Sciences Show Way
Life Sciences truly reflect the conceptual idea of Humboldt’s model. While biology remains the centerpiece of life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of specialisations and interdisciplinary fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology and economics.
It is about creating something new by thinking across boundaries. It is related to an interdiscipline or an interdisciplinary field, which is an organisational unit that crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions emerge.
For example, the faculty of Life Sciences aims to strengthen research and teaching in the Life Sciences at Humboldt University of Berlin and in the Berlin region, anchoring it as a pioneer in the regional, national and international research landscape.
The faculty is devoted to current and future-orientated scientific, technological and social topics across the entire spectrum of life forms: from molecular building blocks to microbial, vegetable, animal and human organisms, including how they interact with their experience realm and the environment.
It primarily follows a scientific approach and supplements this with an economic perspective, with additional connection to the humanities, social sciences and medicine. Agriculture, horticulture, biology, psychology are all integrated and students have excellent opportunities for integrated learning, research and an international orientation.
It is this ‘Life Sciences’, approach, which could open new perspectives for both the Telugu States, if a sincere effort is made to fundamentally reform and restructure higher education and research.
Ramesh Chennamaneni - Collected Works 