In a recent opinion piece for University Business, Robert K Vischer (University of St Thomas) argues that postsecondary institutions should strive to help students answer deeper questions than those related to career goals. Students should be supported in developing human skills such as adaptability, collaboration, and communication, writes the author, by engaging with a variety of life experiences and perspectives. Vischer writes that students who engage in learning how their interests fit together develop the skills to navigate deep questions. “At their best, universities are in the business of transformation, helping develop students’ whole selves—body, mind, spirit—and cultivating the virtues necessary not only to succeed professionally, but to thrive as people,” explains Vischer.
