How university education prepares students to be engaged and informed citizens
Instructors across all disciplines can advance citizenship development through knowledge and skills training.

It is often argued that university education prepares graduates not only to be effective leaders and highly skilled workers, but also to be engaged and informed citizens. With current high levels of political polarization throughout many western democracies, it is useful to consider how instructors from all academic disciplines can support students in developing the knowledge and skills for effective citizenship, which I will refer to as “citizenship development.”
In this month’s column, I consider why instructors might want to include citizenship development among learning goals, some of the ways university education advances citizenship, and how instructors and universities might be more deliberate in their efforts.
The case for universities and instructors to support citizenship development
Why should individual instructors invest time and effort in supporting citizenship development? Some argue that universities have a moral responsibility to do so. For example, 25 years ago, a coalition of almost 1,200 U.S. university and college presidents wrote, “This country cannot afford to educate a generation that acquires knowledge without ever understanding how that knowledge can benefit society or how to influence democratic decision-making.” More recently, in What Universities Owe Democracy, Johns Hopkins University president Ronald J. Daniels argues, “Universities are not merely bystander institutions to democracy but deeply implicated in, and essential for, its success. …. it would be a scandal for them to sit passively by as the political structures aligned with their mission degrade around them.”
These advocates also point to more pragmatic reasons. As the presidents’ coalition mentioned above identifies, universities have unique access to adults seeking to advance their understanding of the world: “higher education has an unprecedented opportunity to influence the democratic knowledge, dispositions, and habits of the heart that graduates carry with them into the public square.” Further, universities may have a self-interest in protecting democratic systems – as Mr. Daniels argues – universities are often political targets when democracy is threatened.
One challenge that universities and instructors must consider, however, is determining the line between supporting students to develop the tools for effective citizenship (discussed below) and directing them towards particular societal and/or policy outcomes associated with ideological and/or partisan positions. Critics charge that faculty and, in some case, universities writ large are “too woke” or left-leaning. If citizenship development is seen as indoctrinating ideology or supporting particular political positions, it will undoubtedly draw criticism.
How universities support citizenship development
Citizenship development requires that graduates have the knowledge and skills necessary to participate effectively in democratic society.
Discussions of citizenship development tend to focus narrowly on building knowledge about government processes, political systems, volunteerism and community engagement – what is often referred to as civic education. Universities make important contributions to civic education through political science, history, law and related disciplinary programs. Further, in our current age of disinformation, it can be argued that scientific literacy contributes to effective citizenship. Thus, universities support citizenship development through science, health, engineering and related disciplinary programs.
In addition to building citizenship-relevant knowledge, individual instructors contribute to citizenship development when their teaching includes training and practice in critical thinking, conflict resolution, communication and other human literacy skills. I have written in the past about how instructors can support students to develop intercultural skills (the ability to work with others with different backgrounds), teamwork skills and effective listening skills, and how to understand the limits of data. These skills all contribute to effective citizenship.
What more deliberate approaches to citizenship might look like
While disciplinary education and efforts of individual instructors already support citizenship development, I respectfully suggest that we could be doing a better job of it.
At the instructor level, there is an opportunity to reinforce the connection between citizenship and our courses through explicit instruction. We often tell students how particular knowledge and/or skills will be valuable to their professional lives. We can take this further by explaining how particular knowledge and/or skills will be valuable to their civic lives. Instructors can speak to how conflict resolution skills are relevant to civic engagement, how effective listening and communication are necessary for constructive discussions, and how critical thinking is vital to informed public debate. Also at the instructor level, it is also possible to use our classrooms to foster liberal democratic values, such as participation, free speech and respect for diversity of thought. Instructors can have explicit discussion of classroom values and connect these to being an effective community member and citizen.
At the institutional level, Mr. Daniels argues “universities need to institute a Democracy Requirement into their curricula.” As a political scientist, I find this idea exciting, but as someone who has served in academic leadership roles for almost a decade, I also find it unlikely to be successful. I also fear that such an approach would relegate citizenship development to a single class that students perceive to be unrelated to their “real” university education.
Instead, I encourage university administrations to consider how they could adopt a more fulsome citizenship mandate that crosses all disciplines. As Steven Rathgeb Smith writes, “teaching civic engagement and providing resources for a better informed and prepared citizenry cannot be confined to the political science classroom.” Supporting citizenship development across the disciplines could take the form of providing instructors with training and resources on how to develop civic skills in their courses, supporting stronger community engagement opportunities for students to build civic experience, and/or hosting campus-wide discussions about how programs can support citizenship development. Finally, while this column is focused on teaching practice, it is important to note the potential for universities to support citizenship development through research and community engagement.
Universities and individual instructors contribute positively to citizenship development, and there is opportunity to do more. A whole university approach to citizenship development would support students in all disciplines in becoming effective, engaged citizens.
Continuing the Skills Agenda conversation
What role do you see for universities in advancing democratic citizenship? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. And for faculty involved in social science and humanities graduate education, please check out my and my coauthors Lisa Young and Jonathan Malloy’s recent book,For the Public Good: Reimagining Arts Graduate Programs in Canadian Universities, and related free Substack newsletter, Reimagining Graduate Education.
I look forward to hearing from you. Until next time, stay well, my colleagues.
Featured Jobs
- Electrical and Computer Engineering - Assistant/Associate ProfessorWestern University
- Critical Studies of Technology, Sustainability, and Development - Postdoctoral Researcher Ontario Tech University
- Psychology - Assistant Professor (Social)Mount Saint Vincent University
- Indigenous Studies - Faculty PositionUniversité Laval
- Electrical Engineering - Assistant Professor (Electromagnetic/Photonic Devices and Systems)Toronto Metropolitan University
Post a comment
University Affairs moderates all comments according to the following guidelines. If approved, comments generally appear within one business day. We may republish particularly insightful remarks in our print edition or elsewhere.
1 Comments
Loleen – your vision of what Canadian university could be, should be, is exciting and oh, so very timely. I’ve just started reading For the Public Good and see so much potential for my university and program on its pages. Thank you for the rallying call – shining a light of hope in the darkness of these times.