Knowledge as a Public Good : Comments on Special Issue: What is the Good University? (original) (raw)
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The relation between the university and its environment has been gaining more and more importance with time. The discussion about the measures to be taken in order to achieve an active participation in dialogs and concrete actions for the transformation of this relation, in turn, has become the basis for the reformulation of university policies in the whole world. This paper is aimed at examining the different current trends that are showing in the world regarding the relation among the university, the productive sector, the Government and the local communities, in order to propose new action strategies in the framework of Venezuelan universities. The change in the mission of the university The Mexican analyst Arturo Guillaumín Tostado 1 calls our attention to the fact that the cultural mission of the university is being gradually substituted by the rationality of "excellence", which is based on competitiveness and on the mercantile ideology of global capitalism. According to the author, a vision that has been gaining ground day by day is one in which the university has transformed into an enterprise that produces and commercializes knowledge and services to meet the requirements of those sectors capable of paying for them. For instance, they would be offering intensive use of information technology, incorporating "virtuality" to the learning process, opening-up more toward the environment (specially toward the modern productive sectors and the international field), offering short degree courses and flexible curricula adjustable to the emerging markets, emphasizing on technological development, providing services as a new way of funding, adopting the concepts "excellence" and "competitiveness" from the business world. Within this framework, he proposes the creation of original organizations endowed with new qualities and the capacity to establish a permanent dialog with their complex environment, free form the vices, fragmentation, bureaucracies and heavy structures of current universities. They should be organizations where teaching for the labor market and specialized technical training can be substituted by an integral and open education that contributes to self-training of the individual and to civic education. Besides, this reform should go beyond the democratization of the university education; it must change our capacity to organize knowledge, this is, to think.
Policy Futures in Education, 2003
This article attempts to answer the knowledge management jibe that universities are 'dumb organisations' in need of restructuring or, worse, dissolution. In its place, the author proposes that the university is the original entrepreneurial organisation, one designed to engage in the 'creative destruction of social capital'. Creation occurs as research gains one temporary advantage, while destruction occurs in teaching, which removes that advantage. However, this cycle is currently subject to severe disruption by such signature trends of our so-called knowledge society as credentials inflation and expanding intellectual property regimes. Contrary to the name 'knowledge society', knowledge functions more as a principle of social stratification or a source of capital development, but not a form of inquiry. Epistemology thus becomes what the author calls 'phlogistemology'. This problem is diagnosed in terms of the emergence of 'capitalism of the third order'. The author then shows how the welfare state temporarily reversed this tendency by institutionalising the university as a public good. However, with the decline of the welfare state, academic knowledge has now reverted to the status of a positional good. The author observes that the ultimate source of the university's identity crisis is the theory of value shared by the welfare state and contemporary neo-liberalism, both of which regard the university as a glorified short-term, client-centred service provider. In response, the author explores the consequences of taking seriously the idea that the university was one of the original chartered corporations, funded mainly by the alumni's lifelong financial commitment, not student fees or graduate taxes.
The University : From State Bureaucracy to Scientific Communities
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This article is a response to the need to consider a profound reflection on the state of higher education and a proposal for contributions to a very important and current discussion at the time. The role of education in the formation of individuals and in the development of society is unquestionable, through it is transmitted, from generation to generation, knowledge, culture, prejudices, values, among others. Education is a shared responsibility and only with our joint efforts will progress be sustainable; The citizens of the future must be trained to adapt to a complex reality and this must be oriented to the formation of values, of an individual capable of facing the different difficulties and solving problems that are presented to us. The challenges facing education are many, propose solutions and carry them out should be a social effort, joint and coordinated. From there a literature review is proposed to reflect on the current state of the university compared to what has been ...
Knowledge as Responsibility: Universities and Society
Journal of Hiegher Education Outreach and Engagement, 2014
This essay proposes three principles that defined genuine social responsibility, and suggests that while universities claimed to be committed to this idea, many adopted social responsibility only superficially. Consequently, universities indirectly exacerbated socioeconomic inequalities and overlooked their obligation to search for truth.
In this paper, we focus on one of the primary and unique responsibilities of a university: doing research. First, we examined the broader social responsibility of today's universities against the background of global trends. We argue that given today's tremendous speed of change, universities need to get their strategic response to the trends of technological change, demographics and globalization right. Secondly, we analyzed the social responsibility of universities in Europe in the context of their mission of striving for excellence in teaching, outreach and research. We argue that the University should focus on its primary mission, before starting to act upon its wider social responsibility. Regarding research we need to distinguish between on the one hand research applied to education, and on the other hand research with the aim of fulfilling society's demand for new knowledge through theoretical and applied scientific research. Third, we outlined how to organize support for the successful acquisition of external competitive research funding. We suggest that specialized and decentralized support research support structures perform better than centralized and non-specialized. We outline the conceptual model and the data collection of ongoing research in this regard. We also suggest why universities tend to choose the former over the latter, despite its dominant disadvantages. Finally, we present some general conclusions and recommendations.
What Is the Public Role of the University? A Proposal for a Public Research Agenda
European Educational Research Journal Volume 8 Number 2 , 2009
With a view to meeting the demands of the knowledge economy and taking up a leading role in its further development, Europe and its member states are urging universities and institutions for higher education more generally to innovate and modernise themselves. Organisational structures, governance and management systems, curricula and teaching methods, and funding and incentives mechanisms are no longer considered to be adequate to guarantee that European universities can keep up with global competition in education, research and innovation. Innovation and modernisation are also considered to be necessary with regard to the public (i.e. social, cultural and political) role of universities. Today’s knowledge-intensive economies and societies are regarded as in need of up-to-date policies on equal opportunities, participation and access, and of strategies for knowledge-driven local and regional economic, social and cultural development. In addition to this and based on a concern about European citizenship, democratic involvement and social cohesion, there is a requirement for the development of curricula, extra-curricular activities and participation structures that offer students opportunities to develop civic competencies.