Diversity is immensely valuable to any higher education institution, but not all universities and colleges are successful or even aware of how to recruit a diverse student population. Fortunately, this is an area in which John LaBrie, dean and vice president for Professional Education, Northeastern University College of Professional Studies, is an expert. I recently sat down with him to find out about the types of strategies that are helping universities ensure that they recruit diverse student populations.
Q: First, we agree that diversity is a very valuable thing for any higher education institution, but would you say that there are particular reasons that it is especially important in today’s modern world?
A: The first thing we need to understand is the reality that we live in a more diverse world. Given that, it’s important that our classrooms reflect this. Students, as part of their educational experience, need to understand how to navigate the cultural and diverse aspects of a modern classroom, which is also reflective of the larger society.
One of the fundamental cores of education is to encourage students to be critical thinkers. In order to understand critical thinking, you need to understand different perspectives. Cultural diversity inherently brings into the classroom a cultural perspective that is fundamentally diverse and thus forces students to understand issues from different points of view.
Second, as a learning model, a culturally diverse classroom is a great pedagogical tool that allows students to understand critical thinking regardless of the discipline.
So for those two reasons, from a cultural and pedagogical standpoint, it’s highly important for us to pay attention to this, and it’s exciting that the classroom is, in fact, becoming more diverse in student opinions and backgrounds.
