Literature and Character Education in Universities presents the potential of literary and philosophical texts for character education in modern universities. The book engages with theoretical and practical aspects of character development in higher education, combining conceptual discussion of the role of literature in character education with applied case studies from university classrooms. Character education within the academic context of the university presents unique challenges and opportunities. Literature and Character Education in Universities presents perspectives from academics in Europe, the USA and (...) Asia, offering unique insights into the ways that engaged reading and discussion of core texts can promote the development of intellectual and moral virtues. Chapters draw on a wide range of texts from Confucius' Analects to J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, focusing on themes such as truthfulness, self-knowledge, prudence, tolerance, friendship, and humility. Literature and Character Education in Universities will be of real use to researchers, academics and postgraduates in the fields of higher education, philosophy, and literature. It should be essential reading for university educators interested in character development and advocates of literary education in modern universities. (shrink)

This paper describes the development and implementation of a character education program at the University of Navarra. The Leadership as Service Program has been developed in collaboration with the Oxford Character Project, and has adapted its Global Leadership Initiative to the Spanish context. The purpose of the Leadership as Service Program is to help students develop a sense of personal purpose, and virtues that are specific to leadership, such as prudence, humility, gratitude, resilience, and service. The methodology of the program (...) follows the seven strategies of character education and includes a mentoring program. In order to adapt the Global Leadership Initiative to the Spanish context, the Leadership as Service Program was integrated as much as possible into the fabric of the University of Navarra by means of (1) facilitating a new initiative to develop workshops on purpose; (2) incorporating an existing mentoring program; (3) positioning local actors as experts, and (4) dialogue with stakeholders within the university. First results indicate that the Leadership as Service Program makes a valuable contribution to the ethical and professional development of students, which corroborates with the findings of the Oxford Global Leadership Initiative. (shrink)

Bentley et al.--O’Brien bypass the relevance of emotions in decision-making, resulting in a possible over-simplification of behavioral types. We propose integrating emotions, both in the north-south axis (in relation to cognition) as well as in the west-east axis (in relation to social influence), by suggesting a Z axis, in charge of registering emotional depth and involvement.