Critical Edge Alliance
Critical Edge Alliance
An Alliance of Critical, Alternative and Innovative Universities Across the World
About
Critical Edge Alliance is a global collaborative framework for universities that focus upon student-centered learning, critical thinking, interdisciplinary teaching and research, and social engagement.
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The Alliance aims to create a new global community of learning and research, but also to promote the following ideals:
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- Democratic participation, social inclusion and social justice in order to encourage active citizenship in communities and the world at large.
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- Human understanding and empathy across national, ethnic, cultural, gender/sexual and religious differences.
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- Collaboration and partnerships of knowledge exploration, between university and society, across academic disciplines and among faculty and students.
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- Active and mutual learning towards personal and communal development
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- Combination of practice and theory in order to encourage reflection and critical questioning to identify and address problems in the world.
Background
Critical higher education is a global movement. During the last century, many have emphasized emancipatory and transformative potential of higher education. North American pragmatic thinkers found new ways to enable the students’ self-cultivation, while facing the problems of contemporary society. South American and Indian critical pedagogy illustrated that higher education can serve democracy and social justice. The reform universities of the 1960s and 1970s delivered new models for interdisciplinary learning and research. Today, new universities are established to promote international cultural dialogue and to prepare their students to become global citizens.
The Critical Edge Alliance gathers colleges and universities that aim to continue, develop, and renew these traditions of critical higher education. It is based upon collaboration among institutions that consider themselves as alternatives to conventional higher education and are dedicated to progressive and innovative forms of teaching and research.