Imagining the University

Authors

  • Ronald Barnett

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2013.71.6085

Keywords:

Academic Culture, ideas of university, entrepreneurial university, neo-liberalism, imagination, feasible utopias, ecological university

Abstract

Recent transformations in the relationship of knowledge to the economy and in the implementation of 'neoliberal' policies have seen, worldwide, an emergence of 'the entrepreneurial university'. Several reactions to this phenomenon can be identified, indicative of different forms of imagining the university. And yet, we can justifiably speak of a poverty of the imagination, for there are few ideas of the university that are sensitive to the deep structures of the university, suitably critical of the contemporary situation but yet duly optimistic about its possibilities. What are needed, therefore, is not more ideas of the university but better ideas. In particular, what are called for are feasible utopias of the university. One such feasible utopia is sketched here, namely that of the ecological university. The article ends with a reflection on the implications of the analysis here for university leadership.

Downloads

Published

2013-03-17

How to Cite

Barnett, R. (2013). Imagining the University. International Higher Education, (71), 6–8. https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2013.71.6085

Issue

No. 71: Spring 2013

Section

International

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
    2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
    3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
    4. Authors will be required to sign our standard License Ageement before publication.

A Word document containing the License Agreement is available for download here.