The University of Warwick has been awarded a prestigious grant to develop the teaching of Liberal Arts degrees in partnership with a number of other European universities.

Over the next two years the funds will be applied to three project areas critical to the success and development of liberal arts and sciences programmes.

At Warwick, the focus will be on developing innovative educational interventions that enable the implementation of Undergraduate Research strategies in Liberal Education curricula.

The cash - €275,500 in total - was obtained through Erasmus+, the European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport.

Other universities to receive funding are: University College Roosevelt and Leiden University College in the Netherlands; Leuphana University of Lüneburg in Germany; and Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania.

Cathia Jenainati, Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick, said: “This significant grant demonstrates the success of our new Liberal Arts Degree here at Warwick. To attract such high profile funding is evidence of how we have established the university as a locus of research activity on liberal education.

“All over Europe we are starting to see a reemergence of liberal arts and sciences programmes. They give students the opportunity to contemplate the 'Big Questions' facing contemporary society and the chance to approach problems from the perspective of more than one discipline.”

The university has also obtained a separate travel grant from ECOLAS – the Consortium of European Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences – which will enhance the quality of liberal arts teaching. Dr Gavin Schwartz-Leeper, Director of Student Experience on the Liberal Arts degree, has been awarded a Julie Johnson Kidd Travel Research Fellowship to undertake a focussed piece of research that examines the impact, on the student experience, of specific learning strategies in Liberal Arts courses in the Netherlands and Germany.

Professor Jenainati added: “The ECOLAS grant is important because it allows us to form meaningful networks with other liberal arts colleges in Europe and to undertake in-depth-research on their academic strategies.”

There is more information about Liberal Arts degrees at Warwick on the university's website.

Notes to Editors:

Contact Lee Page, Communications Manager at The University of Warwick. Tel: +44 (0)2476 574 255. Mob: +44 (0)7920 531 221. Email: l.page@warwick.ac.uk.

Contact

Lee Page, Communications Manager

Tel: +44 (0)2476 574 255.

Mob: +44 (0)7920 531 221.

Email: l.page@warwick.ac.uk