Global Values in Higher Education 335Fishman^264 point out that universities must revisit the committed critical
cross-field learning outcomes which promoted the higher level skills that
students acquired through their so-called liberal arts degrees because
‘connecting these higher level competencies back to the real world ap-
plications will be critical’ for the success of future generations of gradu-
ates. Nussbaum^265 also supports this view emphasising the profound
social and political value and role of higher education and noting the
deep-seated connection with the idea of democratic citizenship and the
‘cultivation of humanity’. Nussbaum^266 argues that three capacities are
pivotal in this regard - the first is the capacity for critical self-
examination (including an examination of one’s traditions). Training
this capacity requires developing the ability to reason logically, to test
what one reads or says for consistency of reasoning, correctness of fact,
and accuracy of judgement. She asserts that the cultivation of humanity
requires more than factual knowledge. Secondly, students need to see
themselves ‘as human beings bound to all other human beings by ties
of recognition and concern,’ which necessitates a broader knowledge
and understanding of different cultures and ‘of differences of gender,
race, and sexuality’. And thirdly, and closely allied, students need to
develop ‘the ability to think what it might be like to be in the shoes of a
person different from oneself, to be an intelligent reader of that person’s
story, and to understand the emotions and wishes and desires that some-
one so placed might have.’ Global values reflect global issues that the
world community needs to solve collaboratively and as Freeman notes,
‘Focussing solely on narrow ideas of self-interest can detract from our
very humanity’^267. However, engagements with students indicate mixed
views with many students only keen to receive their qualification and
exit the university into the world of work. Whilst perhaps not the more
264
265 2014: 14^
266 2006: 5^
267 2006: 6-7^
BBVA OpenMind 2013: 373