Fit For Purpose The Futures Of Universities

Schools and universities educate (mostly young) people, to equip them to deal with the future as it unfolds from the present. The question — whether these schools and universities are fit for that purpose — has always been relevant, even in slow-paced times of relative stability, where the future seems predictable as a simple extension of the past.Now that the future is not predictable anymore. Slow-paced times have gone. The relative stability in which universities developed and educated successive generations is gone. The question whether universities are fit for purpose is now more relevant than ever.In this book, ten leading thinkers and eighteen students from different continents, countries and cultures present their views on futures of universities and whether present-day universities are fit for purpose. It is an exploration, meant to inform, inspire and crystallize discussions.

Romania hosts the 2012 Bologna / European Higher Education Area Ministerial Conference and the Third Bologna Policy Forum. In preparation for these meetings, The Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) organised the Future of Higher Education - Bologna Process Researchers’ Conference (FOHE-BPRC) in Bucharest on 17-19 October 2011, with the support of the European University Association (EUA) and the Romanian National Committee for UNESCO. The conference brought the voices of researchers into international-level policy making in higher education. The results of the conference are presented in this book. Until now, empirical evidence supporting policies and reforms in higher education has often been a matter of local or regional focus. The development of a pan-European process in higher education policy drives a need to explore wider research topics on which to base policies. This book offers an unprecedented opportunity for higher education researchers to interact and contribute to the political process shaping the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), and to national policy agendas in more than 100 participant countries for the 2012 ministerial events. The book collects more than 50 articles focusing on vital issues in European higher education. These are arranged in sections addressing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) Principles; Teaching and Learning; Quality Assurance; Mobility; Higher Education Governance in the EHEA; Funding of Higher Education; Diversification of Higher Education Missions; Higher Education Futures and Foresight.

The interwoven futures of humanity and our planet are under threat. Urgent action, taken together, is needed to change course and reimagine our futures.

This book unlocks mysteries surrounding university presidents. Presidents have a large and growing influence on world and academic affairs. Yet until now, little has been revealed about how they enact their roles, how they capture motivation and academic energy, and their views on higher education. This book sheds light on these critical topics, revealing insights from in-depth interviews with presidents of nineteen globally focused universities from thirteen countries. The book presents the interview transcripts and surrounds these with interpretative commentary. Underpinned by leadership theory and framed by analysis, the book provides glimpses into how top leaders think, how presidents manoeuvre through their careers, how leaders form and run productive teams, and opportunities for research and innovation. Common themes and challenges are identified. The presidents reflect on university landscapes, strategic outlooks, the formation of executive teams, online teaching, funding, industry engagement, sustainability, grand challenges, and interdisciplinarity. This book is for professionals and scholars who are interested in education, universities, public policy, science and humanities, and global affairs.

After decades of turbulence and acute crises in recent years, how can we build a better future for Higher Education? Thoughtfully edited by Laura Czerniewicz and Catherine Cronin, this rich and diverse collection by academics and professionals from across 17 countries and many disciplines offers a variety of answers to this question. It addresses the need to set new values for universities, trapped today in narratives dominated by financial incentives and performance indicators, and examines those “wicked” problems which need multiple solutions, resolutions, experiments, and imaginaries. This mix of new and well-established voices provides hopeful new ways of thinking about Higher Education across a range of contexts, and how to concretise initiatives to deal with local and global challenges. In an unusual and refreshing way, the contributors provide insights about resilience tactics and collective actions across different levels of higher education using an array of styles and formats including essays, poetry, and speculative fiction. With its interdisciplinary appeal, this book presents itself as a provocative and inspiring resource for universities, students, and scholars. Higher Education for Good courageously offers critique, hope, and purpose for the practice and the trajectory of Higher Education.

Transformation of the University imagines preferable futures for the university, building hope for the institution’s necessary transformation. It transcends old criticisms and presents fresh ideas on how the institution might be conceived, organised and put into practice while safeguarding that which makes it a university – the pursuit of knowledge. This book is divided into three main parts: Part One – ‘Knowledge’ assumes the role of the university in generating knowledge for the benefit of society; Part Two – ‘Cultural Growth’ expands on how the university might contribute to and benefit from the cultural growth of society, with both explicit and implicit connections to social and epistemic (in)justice; and Part Three – ‘Institutions’ focuses on imaginative processes for enacting the university as an institution that meets the unforeseen future challenges facing societies around the world. With contributions from scholars across the world, Transformation of the University is an essential read for all academics, practitioners, institutional leaders and broad social thinkers who are concerned with the future of the university and its contributions to society.

This timely book offers a detailed, multidisciplinary view on the radical changes in higher education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapters carefully investigate how the pandemic led to massive disruption in the sector, examining the contentious politics involved and various managerial and policy changes that stemmed from this unprecedented crisis.

Higher education is of growing public and political importance for society and the economy. Globalisation is transforming it from a local and national concern into one of international significance. In order to fulfil societal, governmental and business sector needs, many universities are aiming to (re-)position themselves. The book initially considers their “compass”. They aspire to transformational planning, mission and strategy in which social justice is important, people are not treated as mere means to an end, and traditional moral positions are respected. This transformational urge is sometimes vitiated by blunt demands of new public management that overlook universities’ potential for serving the public good. The volume then addresses universities’ success in meeting their targets. Often the challenge in evaluation is the need to reconcile tensions, for example between structure and pastoral care of students; institutional competition and collaboration; roles of academics and administrators; performance-based funding versus increased differentiation. Measurement is supposed to provide discipline, align institutional and state policy, and provide a vital impetus for change. Yet many of these measurement instruments are not fully fit for purpose. They do not take sufficient account of institutional missions, either of “old” or of specialist universities; and sophisticated measurement of the student experience requires massive resources. Change and positioning have become increasingly key elements of a complex but heterogeneous sector requiring new services and upgraded instruments.