We are meeting on the eve of your colloquium, which is why — when I was kindly asked to kick-start our discussion this evening — I thought it would be constructive to take a step back and begin with more of a bird’s-eye view. Specifically, I would like to start by talk-ing about the state of the world as seen …
By way of conclusion
The University at the Crossroadsto a Sustainable Future. Much like the 11th Glion Colloquium in 2017, during the 12thColloquium there was less emphasis on the themes that are famil-iar among university leaders like financial sustainability, research opportunities, rankings and internationalization. To use a phrase from the concluding remarks of the 11th Colloquium, the “long shadow” of all the political events …
The Three (Four) Pillars of Sustainable Development or “The Great Race”
I recall a slapstick film from back in the mid-1960s with the title The Great Race. In it, the quintessential hero (the Great Leslie, dressed in white, of course) is challenged by a despicable and traditionally melodramatic villain known as Professor Fate, who proposes an epic over-ground automobile race from New York to Paris, travelling the long way across Siberia. …
The transformative power of the university
The university is one of few institutions surviving the changes that have affected society over the past 800 years. Stemming from a period which was dominated by the church and feudal lords, it successfully negotiated the Renaissance and Enlightenment, the industrial revolution of the 19th century, and the profound societal changes following World War II. One of the reasons behind …
Technology and Humanity for Industry 4.0 and Learning 4.0
Scientific discoveries and engineering innovation are accelerating the unprecedented convergence of the physical, digital and biological worlds to produce technological advances that are poised to disrupt and transform the daily lives of ordinary citizens at an ever-increasing pace [1, 2]. This ongoing transformation has been broadly and commonly referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 [3].The disruptions …
Maintaining excellence in unstable times
The topic of this presentation is immediately current, even as I write this short summary. We sit at the beginning of May 2019 in the UK without any resolution to the long-running national debate that sur-rounds Brexit. This debate has polarized opinion in the UK and is heated as it pertains to the core of the nature of the country …
Traditional universities: challenges and opportunities
What is at stake? Never before has there been such a huge choice of providers of higher education as today. As this sector grows in reach and impact, it is also becoming more international. OECD data show that the mem -ber countries host more than 3.5 million international students; 6% of all students in tertiary education in OECD countries are …
The Global and the Local: Constructing a Distinctive Role for Universities in Shaping the Future
We are meeting on the eve of your colloquium, which is why — when I was kindly asked to kick-start our discussion this evening — I thought it would be constructive to take a step back and begin with more of a bird’s-eye view. Specifically, I would like to start by talk-ing about the state of the world as seen …
The Challenges of a Liberal University
The modern Indian University dates back to the establishment of the three universities in the Presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in the middle of the 19th century. Indian higher education has taken diverse forms since then, from the prestigious IIT’s to the 500-odd public universities. (Mehta & Kapur, 2017).
The Meaning of Being Private in the Time of Great Change
Learning is, by nature, a personal activity. From an economic perspective, increasing our income by acquiring knowledge and skills through study is an “investment”, and, furthermore, obtaining knowledge and learn-ing new skills are forms of “consumption” that satisfy our curiosity. A neces-sary condition for this is to be able to study freely without being restricted by others. Therefore, state regulations …
Out of the Academic Echo Chamber: universities embracing innovation from unexpected places
The sometimes-surprising trends of the last three years, from the rise of populism to the distrust of expertise, have led many to accuse the global elite, and academics in particular, of being out of touch with society and stuck in narrow “echo chambers”. How can we ever hope to understand why millions feel alienated or “left behind” by elites and …
Conversation is key — Universities and their responsibility for societal development
In the winter of 1827/28, half of the city of Berlin — from the workers to the members of court society — listened to Alexander von Humboldt’s legendary Cosmos Lectures, which form the nucleus of his great work. At each lecture, hundreds of listeners gained insight into the state of research at the time.
Towards Sustainable Development — The Role of Universities in Lifelong Education
In this era of globalization and rapid change, the notion that a university is a place solely to get a degree will, in time, be superseded by a realization that even after graduating from university, none of us can afford to stop learning. The learning profile and needs of society have fundamentally changed, and this will impact the education model …
Pioneering Intellectuals and Innovation of Higher Education
CHALLENGES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY. The 21st century is transforming the social modes of human civiliza-tion at an unprecedented scale and speed. Digitization is changing the world. The massive transformation of working behaviour, production systems, home automation, energy utilization, social and political systems, to name a few, are under way. This mirrors phenomena derived from the advent …
Universities as drivers of societal development?
Research and teaching have always been the two core missions of uni-versities. But, central as they are, they only cover part of the spectrum of activities of modern universities. Indeed, urgent global challenges and the ongoing transformation of societies from agricultural to industrial to knowledge-based economies, have increased the public interest in profiting from academia also in other areas, including …
Science systems under pressure: The entrepreneurial must of traditional universities in the 21st century
THE EVOLUTION OF UNIVERSITIES. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century of the Common Era, the public education system almost completely disappeared, with just a few church schools remaining. It was not until centuries later, when towns and international trade began to flourish again, that the value of education was recognized, and illiteracy addressed across a …
The role of a rising university in an emerging international metropolis
THE UNIVERSITY AND THE CITY IN THE AGE OF KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY. Colleges and universities are among the oldest type of organization, orig-inating from the medieval age. In the long historical trajectory of this social institution, it is commonly recognized that colleges and universities evolved through three stages — from the British model of gentlemen education, through the German model of …
The Global University in the Asian Century
In American higher education today, as indeed in American political dis-course, there is a palpable and widespread reaction to globalization. A recent front-page story in the Chronicle of Higher Education proclaims the end of the global era for education (Chronicle, 2019). Noting a recent drop in the open-ing of international branch campuses, especially since the presidential elec-tion of 2016, it …
Higher education: the curious case of Australia
At least since the European Middle Ages, universities have been at once both intensely local and international institutions. They are highly located in their particular social and cultural milieux, not least subject to the vicissitudes of local political conditions and sometimes control, and usually also part of an international network of research and people to people contact.
Global science, global talent in the wake of nationalism and populism
US President Donald Trump is part of a chilling parade of politicians […] who have risen to prominence in the past decade by fuelling anti-immigrant sentiment. But […] we should be grateful for what global talent has done for our economy. Since 1900, immigrants have made up one-third of US recipi-ents of Nobel prizes in chemistry, physics, medicine and economics. …