สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

9 ปรี ดา วิ บูลย์สวั สดิ์ วารสารราชบัณฑิตยสถาน ปีที่ ๓๗ ฉบับที่ ๔ ต.ค.-ธ.ค. ๒๕๕๕ Abstract Liberal Arts Studies Prida Wibulswas Fellow of the Academy of Science, The Royal Institute, Thailand Arts in general cover fields of study that are not part of science. Social science is the study of people in society. Liberal arts include three main bodies of knowledge, namely, arts, social science and natural science. Colleges of Arts & Science in several large American universities are responsible for the teaching of liberal arts. “Arts & Science” may convey a clearer meaning to many students than “Liberal Arts”. If students learn fundamentals of liberal arts in the first two years of their undergraduate studies, they should be more capable to select their major programs in the last two years, especially multi-disciplinary programs. Liberal arts colleges and colleges of arts & science in USA are good examples. At present, several institutes of higher education in Thailand require their first-year students to study fundamentals of liberal arts together such as SIIT, SIU. Asian University Council recently instructed its school of liberal arts to be responsible for the teaching of liberal arts fundamentals to all undergraduate students in the first three semesters. Impacts on society and environment are now more complex and interrelated. In addition to in-depth knowledge, graduates must also have broad knowledge in liberal arts for sustainable living and solving real problems. As an example, water resource management involves a large number of stake-holders in different societies; funda- mental knowledge in liberal arts will help integrate a very large amount of information for better management of rain and sea water. Keywords: Liberal Arts, Arts & Science, Letters & Science, multi-disciplinary programs