The Arts of Leadership Why Irish Business needs Humanities and Social Science PhDs Tony Donohoe, Head of Education Policy
Increase in AHSS graduates
Destination of PhDs
Salzburg principles The core component of doctoral training is the advancement of knowledge through original research. At the same time it is recognised that doctoral training must increasingly meet the needs of an employment market that is wider than academia Universities as institutions need to assume responsibility for ensuring that the doctoral programmes and research training they offer are designed to meet new challenges and include appropriate professional career development opportunities The promotion of innovative structures: to meet the challenge of interdisciplinary training and the development of transferable skills.
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Post industrial concerns Globalisation 75% of world s population does not speak English End of US global economic dominance Pervasiveness of technology Complex and dynamic markets Respond to customers, governments, markets, economic and social instabilities Growth of services 70% of employment and 50% of exports Sustainability is a growing concern
Post industrial concerns The creation of wealth and jobs based on innovation and new ideas will tend to draw less on the natural sciences and engineering and more on the organisational and social sciences, on the arts, on new business processes, and on meeting consumer needs based on niche production of specialised products and services in which interesting design and appeal to individual tastes matter more than low cost or radical technologies Christopher Hill The Post Scientific Society (2007)
IBEC Survey 2010
Playing to our Strengths survey Humanities Communication skills (82%) Interpersonal skills (80%) Adaptability (73%) Social sciences Interpersonal skills (81%) Adaptability (78%) Communication skills, independent and critical judgement and flexibility (72%) Fine arts Interpersonal skills (100%) Creativity and innovation (100%) Self motivation/presentation skills (80%)
Gardner s five minds The Disciplinary Mind mastery of major schools of thought The Synthesizing Mind ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole The Creating Mind Capacity to uncover and clarify new problems, questions and phenomena The Respectful Mind awareness of and appreciation for differences among human beings and human groups. The Ethical Mind fulfilment of one's responsibilities as a worker and as a citizen.
The Arts of Leadership Who? - constructing a community of followers What? - the community narrative or myth How? organisational tactics Why? rhetoric, the oldest of the leadership arts
A significant economic sector Wider arts sector 16,700 jobs Creative industries 61,000 direct jobs Tourism worth 6.3bn, 200,000 jobs Irish entertainment and media worth 4.4bn Irish film industry -7,000 jobs, content production sector worth 557.3m
Adopt less defensive attitude There is a limit to the extent to which traditional academic study skills can effectively be used in employment, and conversely, a limit to the extent to which the generic process skills of employment can be embedded in the traditional curriculum Atkins (1999) Skills development was frequently viewed by academics as an unwelcome addition to the purposes of HE and a diversion from the study of disciplines Honeybone (2002) There is a danger that higher education might be geared to such an extent to immediate needs that it will lose its function of fostering critical thinking, preparing for indeterminate vocational tasks and contributing to innovation (Tiechler, 2000) Employability wishful thinking masquerading as a concept (Hillage and Pollard, 1998)
Adopt a less defensive attitude By and large, the response of the humanities to the government's emphasis on relevance, transferable skills and providing what employers need (or think they need) has been a rather desperate and demeaning attempt to show that we also contribute to the global competitiveness of "UK plc" (or whatever ugly term might be in vogue this week). Betram, 2011 The more resolute we can defend ourselves against the philistines of an often hostile press who view the work we do in university as quite useless and want to see the university become a kind of technical school for business, and if that happens we are lost Pilkington, 2009 The view of our members is that, providing that a course is intellectually demanding, it will turn out people with potentially employable skills Classics and medieval history turn out people with super brains and the employer can be satisfied that someone has stretched themselves (UK Institute of Directors, 2003)
Increased emphasis on interdisciplinary teaching The department does not think of the subject of philosophy as a merely self-standing discipline, but as being continuous with other disciplines (logic, mathematics, physics, biology, psychology and economics on the one hand, and history, literature, law, political science, art, and music on the other). There is much interest too in responding, as philosophers, to pressing political, social, and cultural issues in the immediate as well as global environment. University of Columbia
Employability A richer construct than skills wish-list A set of achievements, understanding and personal attributes helps students to realise their potential Meets corporate expectations Supports values of citizenship Helps produce learning that will shape the future Should be located in an academic context Not inimical to the values and practices of the academy Implications for pedagogy, learning environment and assessment
Research development framework Knowledge and intellectual abilities Knowledge base Cognitive abilities Creativity Personal effectiveness Personal qualities Self-management Professional and career development Research governance and organisation Professional conduct Research management Finance, funding and resources Engagement, influence and impact Working with others Communication and dissemination Engagement and impact
Themes Digital humanities are a key development to underpin the success of the AHSS in the future Communications are crucial to successful advocacy on behalf of AHSS AHSS and STEM should not be considered a dichotomy AHSS has particular resonance for significant sectors of the economy AHSS can contribute to successful resolution of social issues but employability must be a key concern
The need for a creative alliance Those who debate the relative merits of learning for its own sake and the need for higher education institutions that are more responsive to the business sector risk being at cross-purposes. The goals of satisfying the needs of enterprise and developing well-rounded, culturally literate citizens are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary IBEC Submission to the Foresight in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Study (2009)