Universities in many parts of the world are experience a legitimation crisis. Pressured by 

economics of global capitalism and the rise of a neoliberal ideology, the traditional 

contract between the state, it’s citizens and the university have come unraveled. In its 

place there is a new austerity and accountability that is governed by the logic of finance 

and the management of risk. One set of responses to the crisis of the university has 

been to try and reimagine the place of the university in human societies and to look 

toward a renewed social purpose that is both pro social and looks beyond the logic of 

instrumentality. This talk will focus on the potential of expanded notion of value (beyond 

economic value) as central to the renewal of the university. The university is the place 

where a theoretical understanding of what value is, including economic value, can be 

articulated. It can also be the place where ultimate concerns for a people are imagined. 

The university should also be the conscience of a society where the ethics of different 

values are debated. The talk will discuss some of these ideas around the shifting 

discourse and practice of value.