American and British Universities’ Experience in Forming Student Mindsets

Abstract

TThe paper focuses on issues of building students’ mindsets at leading British and US universities according to global universities’ ratings and serving as elite training centers for international organizations. The major research question aims to uncover the key ideology that shaped the Anglo-Saxon higher education system. The ideology that shaped the AngloSaxon higher education system is evident through the design of Social Sciences and Humanities programs at British and US universities, targeting world leaders and global organization employees. The research method employed was contentanalysis of a range of international studies devoted to educational pathways of leaders,leadership training programs,structure and contents of the two eminent undergraduate Oxford University 3-year courses: Philosophy, Politics and Economics (BA), Global Governance and Diplomacy (M. Sc.), an interdisciplinary program Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) offered at the University of Cambridge, as well as missions of a select world leading universities (the case of Harvard). The authors conclude that graduates of European and US university programs tend to identify themselves as “exceptional” and privileged Euro-Atlantic actors of international relations, which, in turn, largely influence the current state of global affairs.