Academic flourishing and student formation

Abstract

In this paper we put forward various conceptual and empirical proposals for assessing the flourishing of an academic institution and its role in student formation. We consider the breath and variation of various university and college mission and vision statements and their implications for student formation and for what might be considered as reasonable bounds for the scope of an educational institution’s contributions to student flourishing. We comment upon and argue for the importance of student and character formation even to attain a university’s more cognitive and epistemic goals and ends. We discuss the core purposes of the university beyond student formation and also broader notions of what it means for a college or university to flourish as an academic community. We propose various assessments that might be of use in evaluating such academic flourishing. Finally, we point towards some practical resources that can be used to potentially strengthen student formation and the flourishing of academic institutions and the need for further curation, evaluation, and implementation of such resources to better promote academic flourishing.