Searching for Practical Wisdom in Higher Education with Logos, Pathos and Ethos. Case: Finnish Universities of Sciences

Abstract

In our complex and highly connected world, educating for life—that is, educating students with knowledge, skills, and competences infused with practical wisdom (PW) and ethical and moral values—is essential. The paper seeks to answer the question: how could university education facilitate the progress to a wiser and better world? The methodology involves case study research (CSR) based on both secondary and primary data. The missions, visions, and values of fourteen public Finnish universities are analyzed for PW. The findings demonstrate that universities, by becoming more open, unbounded, and enacting organizations, and by enhancing collaboration with businesses, could foster the cultivation of PW in higher education (HE). The novelty of this paper is the creative communication of the case study, where kairos, logos, pathos, and ethos are used to explore a new reality for HE. The article contributes to the contemporary discourses in the literature on the future of HE. Educators in HE need to transform from knowledge workers to wise leaders, wisdom workers, creators, empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. The context of the case study research makes it difficult to generalize. Therefore, international, comparative research is used to complement the findings. The eight-stage change process applied to universities and HE could help in solving the urgent problems of society and facilitating progress to a wiser and better world.

Role of Higher Education in Solving Global Problems

“…Another important finding was that in the future, higher educational tasks should be more ontological than epistemological tasks. Universities should focus on developing the human qualities of learners, such as being authentic and responsible for being able to deal with complex and unexpected situations and solve wicked problems of the world (Aljazeera, 2021;COP26, 2021;Jakubik, 2021;Lufkin, 2017;Maxwell, 2021a;Nixon, 2012).…”

“…The research methodology is constructivism, and the method is qualitative. The paper builds on a selected range of literature from psychology (Arnold et al, 2005;Kernis & Goldman, 2006), philosophy (Barnett, 2011(Barnett, , 2015(Barnett, , 2018Maxwell, 2012Maxwell, , 2021aSartre, 2018), leadership (Carmichael, 2018;George, Sims, McLean & Mayer, 2018;Goffee & Jones, 2018;Hewlett, 2018;Ibarra, 2018;Seppala, 2018), and education (Barnett, 2011(Barnett, , 2015(Barnett, , 2018Jakubik, 2021;Nixon, 2012).…”

“…The research problem is how to find sustainable solutions to global, environmental, and social problems (Aljazeera, 2021;COP26, 2021;Jakubik, 2021;Lufkin, 2017;Maxwell, 2021a;Nixon, 2012) presented in the Introduction. Therefore, the main research question is: How can higher education develop authentic and responsible citizens who will be able to act and solve global problems?…”

From knowledge to wisdom: will wisdom management replace knowledge management?

“…Education and educators play a central role in fostering knowledge as well as wisdom among individuals (cf. Jakubik, 2020b; Jakubik, 2021b; Karami et al , 2020; Maxwell, 2021a). Bachmann et al (2018, p. 160) asked a central question about the role of management education in cultivating wisdom: “How to foster future leaders” capacity for practical wisdom in such a way as to pay attention not only to instrumental knowledge and abstract techniques, but also to social, cultural, moral aspects and to the students' personal development as suggested by the conciliatory view of practical wisdom?’ Management education has the ability to greatly impact how future leaders will consider social, cultural and moral aspects in their practices and decisions (Jakubik, 2020b).…”

Is the safety safe: the experience of distance education (or self-isolation)

“…The answer to this question depends on what more there is to education than the communicative transfer of information. Jakubik's research shows that education can be understood as a role, as a place, and as a social community (Jakubik, 2021). As for role and place, one of the most common concepts is the idea of education as transfer of knowledge.…”