Hampshire College

Hampshire was conceived in 1965 by four of the nation's most celebrated colleges to be a "new departure in higher education," resulting in one of the most flexible and innovative academic programs anywhere. As students move through Hampshire's Divisional system, they take with them the discipline and self reliance essential to reaching goals throughout their lives. Some of the features that distinguish Hampshire from more traditional liberal arts colleges include student-designed academic concentrations; an active, collaborative, inquiry-based pedagogy; an interdisciplinary curriculum; and a narrative evaluation system. These principles facilitate Hampshire's learning goals.  Hampshire's differences facilitate remarkable results.

Major Hampshire Differences:

Student-designed academic concentrations instead of traditional majors. Rather than following a predetermined academic pathway (major), Hampshire students design their own academic concentrations in close concert with faculty advisors. Hampshire’s Divisional system provides a framework and a process for designing academic concentrations that give students the breadth of a liberal arts education and the depth of their areas of concentration. Hampshire students commonly create academic concentrations that are interdisciplinary, combining several traditional disciplines together or examining an issue or problem from a variety of academic perspectives.

Active, collaborative, inquiry-based learning.  Hampshire students are taught how to be producers and creators of knowledge, rather than passive consumers of information. Hampshire students explore the questions that most concern them—not simply respond to questions posed by teachers. Hampshire’s process is discussion-rich, project-based, and writing-intensive. Students read primary works rather than textbooks. Revision and reflection are ongoing components of the learning process. Hampshire students are challenged to produce original research through papers and projects, pushing beyond what they think they can achieve. This process teaches students how to be scholars and original, independent thinkers. Coursework, the traditional mode of learning in liberal arts colleges, is not enough. Hampshire students engage in substantial independent research and creative work; they enhance their academic experience with internships, original research, study abroad, and field work.

An interdisciplinary curriculum. Traditional subject areas, such as biology, history, mathematics, and science, are artificially fragmented. The curriculum at most colleges is organized around traditional academic disciplines in separate departments. This departmentalization of subject areas disconnects ideas that are inherently linked. Rather than traditional departments, Hampshire’s curriculum is organized around five broadly interdisciplinary Schools of Thought: Cognitive Science; Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies; Interdisciplinary Arts; Natural Science; and Social Science. Courses within the Schools are interdisciplinary, drawing connections between traditional bodies of knowledge. Students are not bound by the Schools of Thought, often taking courses among several of them simultaneously.

Narrative evaluations instead of grades. Because the purpose of evaluation is to give students meaningful, constructive feedback, faculty members provide extensive written feedback on papers and projects. When courses end, faculty members ask students to reflect on their learning and experiences and write a thoughtful self-evaluation. Professors compose detailed written evaluations that reflect students’ engagement and performance in their courses, internships, field work, projects, study abroad, and other evaluated learning activities. Traditional letter grades, percentages, or other quantitative measurements are not used to evaluate student work, learning, or performance. Hampshire’s narrative evaluation system eliminates competition, enhancing Hampshire’s collaborative learning community. Graduate schools and employers appreciate Hampshire’s comprehensive narrative transcript, which offers a level of detail not reflected on traditional transcripts. As nearly all Hampshire students take courses within the Five College consortium, most receive a handful of traditional letter grades for courses completed off campus.

Hampshire's academic structure and pedagogy is designed to accomplish several learning goals. Among these are:

• To read and interpret intellectual or artistic works
• To write critically and analytically
• To understand quantitative methods of analysis
• To develop creative abilities in expressive modes (e.g. creative writing, visual and performance arts, and music)
• To effectively present ideas orally
• To conceive and complete project-based work
• To understand multiple cultural perspectives on intellectual or artistic subjects