| CODE | ACA5047 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Higher Education, Community and Social Difference | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will focus on Higher education, lifelong learning, community and difference. It will discuss HE against the background of globalisation and Lifelong learning, teasing out the different emphasis in the various conceptions of globalisation (hegemonic globalisation, globalisation from below, globalisiationof the war against terror, globalisation of human rights, Sustainable development goals etc) and lifelong learning (mass humanist lifelong education, economistic lifelong learning , LLL and SDGs). It will discuss in this context the concept of HE and the so-called 4th IR (4th Industrial Revolution). We will then move from the global to the local and discuss HE and the community. This is where the themes of social difference and biodiversity will be given prominence. We will discuss communities as ever changing, resistances to changes and the dynamics of difference especially ethnic difference. The implications of community living and the rest of planet earth will be discussed. We will then look at an on-the-ground project of University community education carried out twice in Malta and examples of other higher education-community projects in different parts of the world, in the so-called First World and the Global South. We will also discuss Higher Education community and difference also with regard to the Mediterranean and other on-the-ground projects which serve as alternatives to the mainstream provision often promoted globally in the hegemonic discourse. The unit also addresses the challenges for LLL and HE with respect to migration and climate change. Importance is attached to distance online learning as a contingency during pandemics and its effects on HE, community and LLL especially with regard to differentiated groups. The unit itself is delivered online. The final discussion centres around potential scenarios of a democratising and inclusive education for the future. Study-Unit Aims: The study-unit aims to lead the learning participants to a nuanced understanding of the macro and micro issues affecting higher education (HE), and HE in relation to embedding and surrounding communities and the broader world context. During this study unit learning participants will be critically considering the politics of HE from multiple perspectives, and the challenges faced by HE in different contexts and with respect to different subjectivities. The extent to which HE is an important domain within a process of genuine democratisation will be explored. The study-unit will also call to attention different HE systems and processes worldwide and the different concerns they attempt to address; and dare envisage potential HE scenarios. Specifically, this study-unit aims to advance a sociological understanding of HE and an approach to the field involving a sociological imagination. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Discuss and debate education from a comparative and international perspective. - Recognise HE as an institution within a community, national and global context - Discerningly distinguish politics of different types of HE provision - Recognise HE processes that sere a reproductive of change function - Recognise the contribution that certain regions (in this case, Europe and the Mediterranean) have been providing to the discourse on HE - Deepen discernment of the way HE responds to or ignores issues of social difference and biodiversity - Deepen discernment of the relationship of HE and communities - Develop an informed knowledge base to develop democratic community HE practices 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Locate certain education discourse within a particular ideological framework (e.g. Neoliberalism, Fourth Industrial Revolution) - Discuss and debate public policy and practice - Develop projects of community education - Develop HE projects within the context of democratisation - Discerningly consider theory in relation to HE practices - Relate and discuss case studies in HE and communities - Critically draw upon policy documents in HE when addressing issues in the field - Critically consider institutions from sociological and political economy perspectives - Critically consider the doxa (e.g. Lifelong Learning) - Discuss and debate HE positioning beyond business and 'employability' paradigm Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: Mayo, P (2019) Higher Education in a Gloabalising World. Community Development and Lifelong Learning, Manchester: Manchester University Press. Supplementary Readings: - Connell, R (2019) The Good University. What universities do and why is it time for change, London and New York: Zed Books. - de Sousa Santos , B. ( 2015 ). The e-university at a crossroads . In Darder , A. , Mayo , P. , and Paraskeva , J. (eds.), The International Critical Pedagogy Reader . New York and Oxford: Routledge . - de Sousa Santos , B. ( 2017 ). Decolonising the University: The Challenge of Deep Cognitive Justice . Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. - Giroux , H. A. ( 2014b ). Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education . Chicago IL: Haymarket Books. - Watson , D. , Hollister , R. M. , Stroud , S. E. , and Babcock , E. (eds.) ( 2011 ). The Engaged University: International Perspectives on Civic Engagement . New York and London: Routledge. - Williams , R. ( 1976 ). Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society . London : Fontana Press.Pre-requisite Qualifications: First Degree (MQF 6) at Second Upper Level or better (as per requirements of the postgraduate study programmes it relates to). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Independent Study and Online Learning | |||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Maria Cutajar (Co-ord.) Peter Mayo |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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