An American Catholic university is launching a theology major designed to provide skills for careers in business and law as well as Church related work. The International Herald Tribune reports Benedictine University based in Lisle, Illinois, is starting the program to provide students with skills for either secular or religious work.
"What (employers) want is people with the skills to think and write and speak, but the parents don't want to hear that," Maria de la Camara, dean of Benedictine's College of Liberal Arts, told the paper.
"If we want to stay alive, it's like walking on a tightrope. You don't become a technical college and totally focus on the professional side, but you combine both sides and do it well, and turn out liberally educated professionals."
The Herald Tribune says this is part of a trend in "liberal arts" universities and colleges to offer students intense experiences that mimic real world problem solving.
The colleges argue that the skills they offer - analysis, writing, argument - are the best preparation for a career in the ever changing business world.
But at a time of surging college costs and rising career anxieties, pressure is building to do more to give students a well rounded resume.
As a result, a new, blended model of schools combining pre-professional training and the liberal arts has emerged, the Herald Tribune says. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: CN)