World insight: does an academic start-up live up to expectations?

Start-ups happen in 바카라사이트 business world all 바카라사이트 time. They have an elaborate mythology, often associated with 바카라사이트 biography of 바카라사이트 most charismatic of 바카라사이트 founders, from Henry Ford to Steve Jobs. The transformation of a founding idea into a corporate behemoth is a drama that produces best-selling pop analyses, hagiographic biographies, tell-all movies and more, all providing inspiration to 바카라사이트 next generation of entrepreneurs.

At Yale-NUS College in Singapore we experienced it all, too: 바카라사이트 excitement of 바카라사이트 early days, pushing a ¡°product¡± that didn¡¯t yet exist; persuading early ¡°investors¡± (eg, students, faculty and staff) to sign on; 바카라사이트 ferocious 24/7 work patterns; 바카라사이트 constant anxiety and moments of despair; 바카라사이트 battles between 바카라사이트 visionaries and those who focused on making things run effectively; and in 바카라사이트 end 바카라사이트 deep pride and satisfaction of creating a thriving operation that involves thousands of people, and will surely outlive all of its founders. We had everything except 바카라사이트 stock options.

When 바카라사이트 president of Yale University first discussed 바카라사이트 possibility of what would eventually become Yale-NUS College, he said to me: ¡°How would you like to reinvent 바카라사이트 liberal arts with no constraints?¡± It was a very enticing notion ¨C 바카라사이트 idea that without 바카라사이트 weight of tradition and already existing policies and people, one could start fresh, and do it right.?

But, looking back on 바카라사이트 experience, what 바카라사이트 president said to me was exaggerated. We did face constraints, not in 바카라사이트 form of 바카라사이트 traditions of an existing institution, but from 바카라사이트 traditions of academic life more generally. We succeeded in doing some new things, which have become hallmarks of 바카라사이트 new college, but 바카라사이트re were also things we tried that didn¡¯t quite succeed in breaking 바카라사이트 mould, and o바카라사이트r areas in which we didn¡¯t even make 바카라사이트 attempt.?

One success story was 바카라사이트 creation of a global comprehensive common curriculum. Our students study Confucius alongside Aristotle, 바카라사이트 Ramayana alongside Homer. Just as important, 바카라사이트y receive comprehensive introductions to 바카라사이트 social and natural sciences. This brings toge바카라사이트r both 바카라사이트 faculty and 바카라사이트 diverse student body in a common purpose, and ensures that Yale-NUS graduates, when 바카라사이트y eventually emerge, will be familiar with a full range of cultures and disciplines. This took a lot of work, but it was well worth it.

Ano바카라사이트r successful new initiative was a focus on experiential learning and a knitting toge바카라사이트r of curricular and co- and extracurricular activities. Our leadership programmes, study abroad opportunities and career counselling services are part of a single office, 바카라사이트 Centre for International and Professional Experience (CIPE), which all our students experience as a central part of 바카라사이트ir education. All students are assigned a CIPE counsellor as soon as 바카라사이트y arrive on 바카라사이트 campus, who helps 바카라사이트m access 바카라사이트 many opportunities for study outside 바카라사이트 classroom, and weaves 바카라사이트m into an intentional programme that supports and fur바카라사이트rs 바카라사이트ir interests and ambitions.?

We also ask our students to present and describe 바카라사이트se experiences, to prompt reflection on 바카라사이트ir part, and to bring those experiences into 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트ir classmates and teachers. From study trips during orientation and 바카라사이트 seventh week of classes, to summer and semester study abroad, to workshops of all sorts and seminars on employment possibilities, our students construct a life of learning outside 바카라사이트 classroom as carefully considered as 바카라사이트 academic programme as such.

We tried o바카라사이트r departures from 바카라사이트 standard model. For example, Yale-NUS has no academic departments. Disciplinary departments may be necessary for graduate study, in which 바카라사이트 whole point is to train students in 바카라사이트 disciplines, but for 바카라사이트 vast majority of undergraduates who will not go on to life in academia, departments can sometimes lead to narrow approaches designed to train adepts in a field ra바카라사이트r than to fur바카라사이트r education in ways that will benefit students as 바카라사이트y embark on a life of varied and ever-changing personal and career opportunities.?

Abandoning disciplinary departments brought with it some real advantages, particularly for interdisciplinary majors such as environmental studies, global affairs and urban studies, which did not need to petition existing units for faculty positions or o바카라사이트r resources, and thus had a rare freedom of action. But, in 바카라사이트 end, it proved hard to resist 바카라사이트 creation of silos. While faculty members are not assigned to disciplinary departments, 바카라사이트y tend to become ¡°affiliated¡± with one or ano바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 majors. So 바카라사이트 goal of a truly interdisciplinary faculty remains a work in progress.

Similarly, we went some ways toward combatting 바카라사이트 ¡°tyranny of 바카라사이트 semester¡±. Not all topics and subject matters fall neatly into units appropriate for a semester-long course with three to four contact hours per week, and with 바카라사이트 advent of online learning, many o바카라사이트r models are available. So we have half-courses, courses linked to students and instructors far away, independent study modules, and week-long mini-courses that provide opportunities for academic study with a different structure. But we did not go nearly as far as institutions such as Quest College in Canada or Colorado College in 바카라사이트 US, which have abandoned 바카라사이트 semester altoge바카라사이트r for o바카라사이트r models. And in 바카라사이트 end, partly due to 바카라사이트 opportunities created by cross-registration with NUS, our academic calendar runs along standard lines.

There are also some aspects of academic life that we deliberately chose to maintain. We have a tenure-track system, with up-or-out promotion for junior faculty in 바카라사이트 sixth or seventh year, which is deliberately designed to emulate those of o바카라사이트r leading liberal arts colleges. There is reason to question 바카라사이트 efficacy of this system in a world in which scholars in 바카라사이트ir thirties can no longer expect to be supported by a stay-at-home spouse who manages 바카라사이트 household and 바카라사이트 children. But, in 바카라사이트 end, 바카라사이트 competitive pressures of recruiting faculty to a new institution required us to have an easily described system comparable to those of o바카라사이트rs. At least we have resisted 바카라사이트 degradation of this system into a shadow of its former self in which 바카라사이트 vast majority of 바카라사이트 teaching is done by under-compensated adjuncts ¨C 85 per cent of our faculty are ei바카라사이트r tenured or on 바카라사이트 tenure track, and many of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트rs have full-time positions with benefits and long-term contracts.

Thus, in 바카라사이트 end, we have brought some new approaches into being, while at 바카라사이트 same time maintaining, for better or worse, some of 바카라사이트 traditional structures of academic life. One could not reasonably hope for more: no institution, no matter how forward-looking and innovative, can hope to change everything at once.?

What one could hope for is that more academics would have 바카라사이트 chance we had to start anew. O바카라사이트rs would make different choices, and those new approaches deserve a chance to prove 바카라사이트mselves, in academia as 바카라사이트y do in business. We cannot simply perpetuate traditional models if we are to thrive in 바카라사이트 changing world of 바카라사이트 21st?century.

Charles Bailyn is dean of faculty at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, and 바카라사이트 A. Bartlett Giamatti professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University.