Trends in Higher Education

* Harvard University has overhauled its curriculum, the biggest in three decades, putting new emphasis on religious and cultural issues, the sciences and overcoming U.S. “parochialism.” The curriculum shake-up is the first major overhaul since Harvard formulated its current “core” course requirements in the 1970s.

Advanced by former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, the addresses religion as a cultural influence and will include the studies of empirical reasoning, ethical reasoning, the science of living systems, the science of physical universe, and “aesthetic and interpretive understanding.” (Reuters, February 7, 2007)