Revitalisation of the Humanities in Higher Education: Premise and Promise

Proceedings of The 4th World Conference on Research in Teaching and Education

Year: 2022

DOI:

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Revitalisation of the Humanities in Higher Education: Premise and Promise

Dr.Fouzia Munir

ABSTRACT: 

In a rapidly changing, digitalised world around us, the Humanities appear to be fading into oblivion. STEM subjects, Information technology and artificial intelligence are shaping a machine-driven universe where humanity does not seem to matter. Soaring unemployment across the world is making youth question the value of the Humanities. Higher education institutions are facing a continuous decline in this domain. In an ever-changing atmosphere, academics in the humanities are themselves uncertain about the direction of their disciplines. The advent of COVID-19 has only deepened the decline in the value of humanistic education. At the same time, it is evident that it is the humanity that has suffered the greatest loss. This literature review-based research argues that in the revelling of automated systems, we should not forget that we need more and not less human connection. A reinvigoration of the discipline is required to bring it on par with the society’s demands. In this changing landscape, the onus in on the academia to transform the negative perceptions surrounding this area and revitalise the Humanities to make them relevant and desirable to higher education aspirants. The Humanities scholars need to prepare their students to confront change and forge new paths for themselves that can establish the relevance of the Humanities in the increasingly roboticised world. We require humans to address the human driven problems of the world.

keywords: Automated world, Decline of the Humanities, higher education,impact of COVID-19 on society, STEM subjects, value of the Humanities .