Excellence for All: A Nietzschean-inspired approach in professional higher education

Abstract

Europe’s objectives of economic growth and job creation require large numbers of professionals who are willing and able to innovate and rise above themselves. In this article, a concept of excellence is developed that can be broadly applied in professional higher education. This concept of excellence derives from three concepts which the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche developed in The Gay Science (2001/1887): self-transcendence, self-control and self-styling. By starting with Nietzsche’s radical thoughts, the author aims to grasp the probabilities and challenges of preparing all students for their professional future. Several proposals for educational practice are outlined based on this perspective of ‘excellence for all’.

Keywords:

• excellence
• professional development
• employability
• curriculum development
• Nietzsche

Notes

1. Nietzsche’s early work On the Future of our Educational Institutions will not be addressed in this paper. Although it is one of Nietzsche’s few writings explicitly about education, and addresses some of the concerns of this paper, I will focus only on the works that Nietzsche considered fit for publishing.