Postgraduate students in leading universities receive training in the expert knowledge and technical skills needed for careers in specific vocational fields. A character deficit in leadership in these same fields highlights the need for educators to attend to the character formation of their students. This project will address the three important fields of business, law, and science and technology.
QUESTIONS
1. What are the existing patterns and practices of character formation, and the most important virtues for practitioners in these fields?
2. Can we design, deliver and rigorously evaluate sustainable and scalable programmes to support postgraduate students in developing these virtues, embedding them in relevant faculties at the University of Oxford?
3. Can we build partnerships necessary to scale these programmes in universities and other institutions around the world?
ACTIVITIES
Engage in research to investigate the 'moral ecosystem' and identify key virtues in each field
Develop and implement our tested model of character formation
Design and deliver sector-specific character development programmes to measurably cultivate virtue in postgraduates
Rigorously evaluate and improve student programmes
Trial programmes at other institutions and build partnerships to scale programmes worldwide
DELIVERABLES
15 Oxford programmes
3 university partner programmes
2 exec ed programmes
Long and short-form curricula
6 datasets
23 journal articles
46 conference presentations
20 media publications
3 industry reports and public events
An international conference
An edited volume of conference papers
A handbook of university character education
IMPACT
Virtue cultivated in 360 students
Improved character education at Oxford University and partner institutions
Furthered ethical leadership in the 3 fields
Contributed to academic research in virtue ethics and professional education
Raised public profile of professional character education
