In his keynote address to the European Council for Business Education’s Annual Conference held in Athens in late May, Mr. Nikos Skoulas, President of Minoan International College, underscored the importance of “general education” to all fields of study and, in particular, to business studies. Drawing on the context for higher education provided by the Bologna Agreement, he emphasized the need for programs that prepared students, not only for the rigors of the business world of the 21st Century, but also for their roles as active, informed and committed citizens of their countries, of Europe and of the global community.
This goal, he claimed, can only be achieved when colleges and universities place a high value on the social sciences, humanities and arts and insist on their critical importance to the education of students within their professional programs. Mr. Skoulas invoked the Ancient Greek notion of “paideia” under which students received instruction in all branches of knowledge, thus producing well-rounded, fully-educated citizens. This idea, he argued, has never been more important than it is now, given the present economic crisis and the growing number of revelations of recent, wide-spread greed and corruption among business and political leaders in the West.
Mr. Skoulas concluded by suggesting that the theme of this year’s ECBE Conference, “Creativity and Innovation in the Development of Programs, Content and Delivery” is an important theme, but that it must be framed in the wider concerns of “paideia”.
The full text is available at: www.minoancollege.gr and www.nsa.gr
About us:
MINOAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE, formerly TRINITY International School of Tourism Management is an English speaking institution of higher learning, situated on the island of Crete, Greece. The Campus is located on the premises of Terra Maris Convention and Golf Resort.
