Teaching to student diversity in higher education: how Multiple Intelligence Theory can help

Although Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligence was conceived in the 1980s and has been put into practice by some primary and secondary schools, it has received scant attention in higher education, apart from debates on whether or not the theory can be applied to students in tertiary education.1 Tertiary: any post‐secondary education. In this paper, I want to ask why this is so, and I will argue that since universities are undergoing rapid change, both in clientele and demands by society, Multiple Intelligence could be a vehicle by which some of these demands are met. I will also report on a survey of academics who attended workshops on Multiple Intelligence, and whether they viewed the ideas as useful pedagogical tools for higher education. After my introduction I will briefly outline the theory of Multiple Intelligence and explain why it can be considered an inclusive pedagogy. I then discuss the changes that are occurring in higher education, especially with regard to diversity of the student body and suggest that universities have been slow to accommodate this diversity in their teaching/learning strategies. I argue that Multiple Intelligence Theory could go a long way to bridging the gap.