An Idea of Higher Education Renewal

Beginning with the briefest reference to the state of higher education today, this paper overviews moral and philosophical concepts of and disposition to education in ancient Greece from the works of Plato and Aristotle, takes a summary view of the subjects taught, sums up the subject content of liberal arts and the principles of rhetoric. The author assumes that even if a dedicated return to the classical ideals may never happen in higher education today, a few concrete ideas might be helpful. With reference to concrete works of classical authors, a suggestion is made to stop never-ending reforms in universities, to recover the teaching of such subjects as style in language and literature programmes, to renew the subjects of history, philosophy and logic and to introduce memory-based learning while paying tribute to classical antiquity and regaining local traditions.