Cultivating Curiosity at University: How Universities Fall Short of Aspiration

Universities often purport to value and promote traits such as curiosity, inquisitiveness, a questioning mind, and a love of knowledge. Indeed, searching through university websites and strategic reports, it is hard to find a university that fails to mention the value it places on curiosity, discovery or the pursuit of knowledge. This is hardly surprising. Universities old and new are principally places of learning and they are proud of this. But what are universities actually doing to promote and cultivate the ‘curious spirit of inquiry’ that they proudly and openly prize? Despite their laudable aspirations, do universities succeed in cultivating curiosity? This is the question I address in this paper. The answer is a resounding ‘could do better’. Beginning with a brief characterisation of curiosity as an intellectual virtue, I argue that universities do little to intentionally cultivate virtuous curiosity. I focus on the student experience and argue that, while students may have their curiosity stimulated at university, they are rarely intentionally enabled or incentivized to develop, practice, or refine virtuous curiosity. In fact, a combination of common teaching and assessment practices in universities presents a barrier to the cultivation of virtuous curiosity in students. Given this, it is difficult to see what contemporary universities are doing to achieve their stated aspirations in this regard.