The Nature of the University (original) (raw)

The University: An Institution of Co-creation and Social Transformation

Business and Economics Journal, 2017

This study draws on the implementation of the Bologna Declaration and the daily life of universities, to appraise the process’s objectives whilst comparing them to its outcomes. The concepts of European University convergence, global training of students and a more balanced society are objectives that the Bologna Declaration enshrines. Yet, for its implementation, a knowledge-based society calls for a greater plasticity of skills to improve economic and social performance. This study relies upon questionnaires to university students, held in 2008, 2009 and 2015. Evidence unveils a somewhat slim knowledge pertaining to aspects of the Bologna process, which may have negative external economies about the autonomous workload each student should devote to course units, as well as to the hierarchy and management of their tasks. This evidence also unveils thatstudents are sensitive to the five global development processes of the person in line with the multiplicity of Gardner’s intelligenc...

Innovation and isomorphism: A case-study of university identity struggle 1969–1999

Higher Education, 2001

Higher education institutions face today strong pressure from institutional environments to adopt certain structures and management systems for reasons of legitimacy and survival. However, the external pressure is multifaceted, demanding organisational and educational innovations on one side and adjustments to developing national and international standards on the other. By studying a Norwegian university from its establishment in 1969 to 1999, and by extensive triangulation of more qualitative studies on this university in this period, the paper concludes that higher education institutions may handle this dilemma by relating it to the continuous struggle for organisational identity.

EVIDENCE AND INSIGHT - IN SEARCH OF THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE UNIVERSITY

INSIGHTS, 2018

There is a gamble taking place with the future of universities and tackling the issue of what makes these institutions distinctive as a site of knowledge production is core to their future prosperity. It is surprising, however, how little attention is given to this issue. The university is being forged in the name of particular interests and in the process frustrated ambitions often align to unrealisable expectations and from there, the path to cynical resignation is open. Tackling this is not for the university alone. Those outside of the confines of research communities and who are frequently marginalised from public consideration need to be more involved: not in the tokenism that often informs participation, but in deliberations and decisions that mobilise knowledge. This is not easy given the power imbalances that exist, but it also where imaginative possibilities can be produced. The article examines these changes over time and concludes with a call for ‘active intermediation’ in knowledge production not as an exception, but an institutionally embedded set of practices with implications not only for the university, but what constitutes a successful university career.

Internal Transformation and External Engagement: Building a New University

In Norway, as in many other Nordic countries, the higher education landscape is under profound transformation. This process is being driven by a number of factors; demography, local and ntional competitive pressures, institutional aspirations, etc., with many so-called 'university-colleges' aspiring to become fully-fledge universities. This paper sheds light on the dynamics of one such institution, the recently established University of Agder in the South of the country. Conceptually, the paper builds on the notion of university complexity/ambiguity and the importance attributed to macro-level (environmental) features like stylised university models. On the basis of desktop review of institutional documents and semi-structured interviews with university actors (central and unit levels), the paper maps out and tries to make sense of: a) the structural and cultural changes brought by the change in legal status; b) the role of the university in the context of its immediate geographic surroundings; and c) the prevalence of global models for organizing activities, including their consequent impact on external engagement processes. The empirical findings suggest that the university is attempting to find a balance between its global (excellence) and local (relevance) aspirations, but that it currently faces a number of key challenges. The paper provides critical insights to institutional managers and policy-making audiences, in addition to social scientists interested in organizational change/adaptation within (European) higher education systems.

An ecosystem called University

An ecosystem called University, 2021

This book is dedicated to the university as a protagonist of change. Its purpose is to see the university as a place where the lines between organization and system are fluid, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and the product is knowledge as an end, a means and a way of developing the individual (critical sense) and its interaction with the environment (instrumental reason). The book seeks throughout to foster the image of the Ecosystem University as being a producer of novelty, where the only certainty is uncertainty. The university undergoes a process of permanent spiral growth – the spiral of knowledge without any control of causality – and creating, through its environment, responsible citizens, and free-thinking persons. The Ecosystem University is under permanent construction and deconstruction. It is the beginning, which is creation, permanent creation from the present and the past that is assumed in the present. Our work to rediscover the natural feel of an ecosystem embedded in the university and the rich experience of community will take us by the hand and lead us, proud professors, to the purest origin of human knowledge with a flair of joie de vivre: the refreshing purity of the new and the authentic value of ingenuity that will allow us to be ourselves in that very moment: a community that self-organizes, builds projects of life and culture, and determines its own destiny. Reading the book, you will discover how an organizational model inspired by ecosystems has been implemented. It is the result of permanent reflection and a steady flow of practical feedback as the project expanded on the author's doctoral thesis: "Innovazione organizzativa per la valorizzazione della ricerca scientifica." It won the title of best doctoral thesis of 2017 at the University of Ferrara, Italy, for addressing relevant issues attributed to the socio-economic role of the university in building a knowledge society focused on the individual. It was based on a case study how this model was implemented at the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, where the author has been the head of research since 2015. The Department of Economics and the Department of Higher Education at the University of Ferrara recognized the publication of my research results as being a potential source of knowledge for the academic community as well as for those involved policymaking and managing higher-educational institutions. There will always be scope to refine the model as it continues to grow. I invite you to join in and add your contributions to create more value cycles.

The post-non-classical university’s identity: an axiological aspect

Perspectives of Science & Education, 2024

Introduction. The relevance of the university’s role reconsideration is a consequence of the classical university foundations “ruinization” in the contemporary functioning conditions, characterized as highly dynamic, fluid and complex. The identity of the post-non-classical university is not perceived as something integral or self-evident, it is represented the essence of multifaceted identity, lying in the opposition of the idea of university modeling to the destructive postmodern conditions in which the contemporary university transforms. The aim of the study is to conceptualize the post-non-classical university’s image in its axiological foundations Research methods. To reach the aim of the study, the authors applied a methodology comprising philosophically and culturologically determined methods of qualitative analysis to explore issues in the relevant knowledge domains and the direct praxeological aspect of visible manifestations of the modern university’s identity. In their argumentation, the authors rely on philosophical and cultural comparative analysis, use the techniques of systemic functional and axiological approaches, the method of conceptualizing the university’s image. Research results. The article considers the transition from the classical to the non-classical and post-non-classical model of the university. The reflexive (convergent) consciousness is regarded as an essential condition the identity of contemporary university constructing crisis overcoming, and the glocalization argued as the strategy of the university as a sociocultural institute. The post-non-classical university multifaceted identity integrates cultural, behavioral and representational aspects, remaining in its globalized structure the regional particularities. The graduate, possessing the possibility of self-image constructing to achieve integrity and additivity, becomes the axiological foundation of the post-non-classical identity. Conclusion. The study has shown that the contemporary university independently determines the reflexive modernization of the axiological foundations of self-identity. It does not react to external circumstances and challenges, but rather absorbs external conditions and circumstances, and actively transforms and pragmatically uses them for its own advancement. The post-non-classical identity of the university, on the one hand, is a product of postmodernity. On the other hand, its contemporary reflexive modeling overcomes the deconstructing and ruining foundations of postmodernity, and can be considered as a foresight technology.