Background

 

What is, or should be, the deeper connection between universities, higher education and the wider societal and cultural contexts? What is higher education for?

In ministry policy documents, we find terms such as ‘innovation’, ‘entrepreneurship’, and ‘creativity’ as wished-for elements of the higher education curriculum. In university strategy documents, we see an increased focus on elite and ‘excellent’ research and the implicit indication of class A and class B researchers – supporting a neoliberal discourse about competition, individualisation, and a possible erosion of researcher communities. Within disciplinary communities, researchers, teachers, and students are not often very welcoming towards policy and leadership drivers such as quality assurance and professionalisation of higher (and doctoral) education. They call for a stronger focus on knowledge-led and informed policies – and an in-depth discussion of higher education ‘Bildung’ and a value-based connection (and not primarily a socio-economic connection) between universities and society. However, there are few inclusive discussions about higher education Bildung or academic citizenship – and they are lacking among academics (and their stakeholders) as well. Also, this links to discussions on university shared governance as a site for learning to be democratic citizens.

Aim

 

To facilitate discussions of the purpose of higher education, and what, by implication, a future higher education curriculum would look like (goals, study programmes, knowledges, competences, educational partners, etc.). These discussions would ideally be cross-disciplinary, cross-generational (between students, teachers, leaders), and cross-sector (between universities, public organisations, companies, the industry, and policy makers). We aim to connect philosophical, anthropological, educational, and sociological (and more?) discussions around the meaning and purpose of a future higher education curriculum, and to arrive at a complimentary model bridging together value, knowledge, competence, and action.

 

Activities

 

• Webinar. Organise a cross-displicinary, cross-generational, and cross-sector webinar to start up further discussion across universities in Denmark, and between universities, policy makers, and wider societal contexts. Perhaps invite as a keynote speaker Bruce Macfarlane and/or Jon Nixon who have both written extensively on academic citizenship, higher education and the public good.
• Special issue. Plan a special issue for LATISS (Learning and Teaching. The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences) on academic citizenship and the role and purpose of universities and higher education within wider societal and cultural contexts.  By invitation from one of the leading co-editors of the journal (Sue Wright).