A new report by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching argues universities should integrate components of a liberal arts education into their business school curriculum. The report, entitled Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession, emphasizes that business students are not as prepared as they could be for careers in the business world: they are not learning to think critically, a skill long associated with a traditional liberal arts education. As reported in Inside Higher Ed, the report argues that teaching business students modes of thinking that emphasize analytical thinking, the exploration of issues from different perspectives, reflective exploration of meaning, and practical reasoning will greatly improve business education:

“Undergraduate business seems to be widely understood as a kind of simplified M.B.A. program…A more distinctive identity for undergraduate business programs would acknowledge that this is their students’ college education as well as professional preparation. This means, in the American tradition of liberal education, that students need to be prepared for their futures as citizens and persons as well as entrants into the workforce.”

Read the full article in Inside Higher Ed.