the responsibility of the university in the current crisis

 

humanities institute of ireland ucd and gradcam joint workshop for doctoral researchers

 

thursday 1/10/09 15:00 - 17:00 gradcam seminar room, john's street, d8.

 

Building on the success of previous HII UCD/GradCAM joint seminars, this workshop provides an opportunity for doctoral researchers to critically examine the role of the university in the current crisis.

 

speakers

 

Speakers include:

  • Karl Whitney (HII doctoral scholar and a cultural historian). Karl is a graduate of UCD and the University of East Anglia.
  • Tim Stott (GradCAM research scholar and art critic).
  • Mick Wilson (Dean GradCAM)

 

brief

This is an informal workshop taking the form of a roundtable where researchers in both GradCAM and HII will discuss the question of what responsibility the ‘university’ has in respect of the current moment of ‘crisis’. We employ ‘university’ here as shorthand for higher education institutions, academics and doctoral researchers. The questions proposed for discussion include: How can the university respond? How should it respond? Indeed, is there a consensus that the university should respond in someway that requires clear prescription?

Recognising that the current moment is primarily represented in public discourse as a moment of economic crisis, and recognising, for example, the prominence of academics – specifically economists – in contemporary debates on public policy, strategy and larger societal purposes and needs, we seek to consider how the university may respond. What can or should the economic role of higher education be? What other, possibly extra-economic, factors might require consideration here? Is the language of crisis an aid or an obstacle to critical analysis of the university’s role and potential in the current moment?

Some of these issues were previously introduced in the seminar entitled "what is different now? cultural enquiry, economic confusion and 'fiscal austerity'" (January 2009)

 

format

Participants are invited to read extracts from key texts in the recent debates around government policy and expenditures by way of establishing a point of departure for the discussion.

Four speakers will be invited to speak in response to this brief and the extracts identified for discussion. Each will speak for 10 minutes at the start of the session and then the discussion will open to the floor.

There will be a small informal reception after the workshop for all participants.

 

venue

GradCAM, John’s Street, off Thomas Street, near NCAD, Dublin 8. (See www.gradcam.ie)

 

book a place

If you wish to attend, please email aidan.mcelwaine(at)gradcam.ie with ‘univeristy and crisis’ in the message header.

 

organisers

 

This event is jointly organised by the Humanities Institute of Ireland and the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media.

 

recommended resources for discussion

 

Policy and Public Domain Statements

1. See references to the universities, higher education, and research in the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes. (See especially volume II) (Produced by a committee chaired by UCD Economist Mr. Colm McCarthy., this is popularly known as the McCarthy Report).
[http://www.finance.gov.ie/documents/pressreleases/2009/bl100vol1.pdf]
[http://www.finance.gov.ie/documents/pressreleases/2009/bl100vol2.pdf]

2. See references to the universities, higher education, and research in Building Ireland’s Smart Economy A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal
[http://193.178.1.117/attached_files/Pdf%20files/Building%20Ireland%E2%80%99s%20Smart%20Economy.pdf]

3. See Ferdinanand von Prondzynski’s blog entry on ‘The role of universities in economic development’
[http://universitydiary.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/the-role-of-universities-in-economic-development/]

4. See European University Association (EUA) press release (23/3/09) ‘European university leaders underline the key role of Universities during economic downturn’
[http://www.crue.org/export/sites/Crue/Actividades/Repinstitucional/documentos/Marzo_2009/Press_release_EUA.pdf]
See also the EUA’s ‘Snapshot of the impact of economic crisis on European universities: Reports from National Rectors’ Conferences. January - February 2009’
[http://www.eua.be/fileadmin/user_upload/files/Newsletter_new/Impact_of_economic_crisis_-_reports_from_NRC-_february_2009.pdf]

 

Longer Articles

5. Steve Fuller, ‘The university: a social technology for producing universal knowledge’ in Technology in Society 25 (2003) 217–234 This paper offers a broad-scale perspective on the university as a social technology for the production of universal knowledge, centered at first around two basic questions: If universal knowledge exists, why doesn’t everyone have access to it? If knowledge were made truly universal, how would it change? These questions are stated from the perspectives of philosophy and policy, followed by a consideration of two proposed sets of answers: the university as a civic republican church, and as a catalyst for movements in society at large. The contemporary disintegration of universality in the university is then related to the disaggregation of three historic functions: teaching, research, and service—a view that is supplemented by observations on the threat of market forces to future university autonomy. Finally, in a speculative conclusion, the possible end of the university is considered in relation to the fate of higher education and research in the great Eastern empires of the past.

6. Finbarr Bradley’s ‘Foundations for Civic Engagement Defining Innovation in the Engaged University’
[http://www.aishe.org/readings/2009-1/chap-04.pdf]
This is the fourth chapter of Lorraine McIlrath, Alison Farrell, Jean Hughes, Seamus Lillis & Ann Lyons (eds.) Mapping Civic Engagement within Higher Education in Ireland, AISHE Readings 2009 Number 1. (AISHE is All Ireland Society for Higher Education.)