Higher Ed

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June 10, 2018

Best of “Higher Ed:” What Constitutes A “Good” Education

By: Jennifer Stayton

This episode was originally published on Oct. 22, 2017.

In a previous episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger answered a listener’s question about how to know when it’s the right decision to transfer schools. In this episode, they take that discussion a step further to answer a related and important question: How can students know if they’re getting a “good” education? What does it even mean to describe an education as “good”?

You can probably come up with some ways to objectively measure the quality of an education. Many of the teachers have advanced degrees from institutions with excellent reputations. The curriculum offers a wide variety of classes. Students graduate with promising job offers or acceptances to graduate schools. The school is highly ranked in national surveys.  But what does a “good” education really mean?

Ed argues it should be measured using different parameters, many of which actually rest with students rather than faculty or institutions. Listen on for the full discussion and the solution to the puzzler about who took a road trip to Southwestern University.

This episode was recorded Sept. 22, 2017.


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