Most educationists agree that the humanities and social sciences — the soft sciences — are an integral part of a university; indeed, that a real university must be strong in these areas. These disciplines are important in their own right, and are the central core of any general education programme.
Unfortunately the humanities, and to a lesser extent the social sciences, are in crisis in many Asian universities. Few students choose to focus their studies on fields such as philosophy, history, and cultural studies. Linguistics and language studies, other than practical English programmes, are also in decline. The social sciences, particularly such disciplines as economics and a few others related to business management or policy studies, fare somewhat better. A conference held recently at Harvard University and sponsored by the Harvard-Yenching Institute brought together leaders of key East Asian universities and Harvard scholars to examine the “crisis of the humanities and social sciences” in East Asia.
Many universities, in a rush to become ‘world class’ by emphasising the hard sciences and other easy-to-quantify disciplines, have let the soft sciences languish. As governments and universities worldwide have focused on the ‘private good’ aspects of higher education more than the ‘public good’, universities and public funders generally support fields that will yield income or are in high student demand. The traditional public good role of universities — providing education in all branches of knowledge, cultural analysis and critique, the integration of science and culture, and the preservation of knowledge — have been pushed aside.
Students find that the sciences and especially professional education fields such as management and law provide more secure and remunerative careers, causing enrollments in the humanities and the social sciences to plummet. Jobs outside academia are easier to obtain and more remunerative with training in professional fields and the sciences; even within the academe, salaries are higher in these fields. The rise of private universities — the fastest-growing sector in higher education worldwide and the dominant force in East Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines — has meant a sharper focus on fields that are in high student demand.
With enrollments down and funding cuts, humanities programmes have been reduced or even eliminated. In countries such as Japan and Korea, private universities which traditionally stressed the soft sciences are in jeopardy because of falling enrollments in a difficult demographic environment. Fewer doctorates are being produced in these disciplines, reflecting student preferences; fewer academic positions are available; and salaries are not on a par with other fields. The professoriate is ageing and often not being replaced.
At the same time, there’s a new awareness that the soft sciences are needed to support academic programmes — as well as growing concern about providing critical thinking skills to first-degree students in general education courses. Ensuring appropriate strength in the humanities and social sciences is a complex proposition. Academic institutions and government must acknowledge that the soft sciences are important for every university — and make funding available. Some academic departments of high quality that can produce top humanities and social science scholars are a basic necessity in all universities. Admittedly not every university needs to have the capacity to produce doctorates, but the system as a whole must.
Moreover, unlike some fields in the hard sciences, where it doesn’t matter where a scientist is trained, advanced education in the humanities and some social sciences in the home country is in most cases valuable, because the national context is important and expertise is unlikely to exist abroad. In subjects such as national and local history, national culture and language, and related disciplines, local expertise as well as sources and documentation are often quite good in native universities. In academic systems which value foreign degrees, this may place the humanities at a disadvantage.
The humanities tend to be distant and low prestige peripheries of universities. This is a socially unacceptable development and the soft sciences must regain their place at the centre of academic life. Their contribution to general education, and their importance for understanding contemporary society must be acknowledged. New fields such as bioethics and environmental science, if they are to be effective, need significant expertise from the humanities and social sciences. For instance business programmes require a strong element of the social sciences and the best ones include a study of ethics. Too often, humanities scholars stick to their narrow disciplines. Now they must convince others of the relevance of their expertise.
Study of the humanities and social sciences are at the core of understanding societies and cultures. History, sociology, philosophy, and other disciplines interpret contemporary socio-economic challenges. The university, as a central institution providing careful analysis and interpretation of society, requires the soft sciences as never before.
(Philip G. Altbach is director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, USA)