In Chile, higher education is characterised by a constellation of features that make 'public' a multiplicitous idea. In the present study, academics in two public universities are seen to hold strong views in favour of public universities playing public roles and they identify several public goods that they value. These academics also hold…

The Creative University is susceptible to multiple interpretations which are moving in a fluid conceptual space. This conceptual openness can be adequately understood only as a set of discursive formations that reflect underlying societal changes. It is becoming a commonplace to suggest that creativity should no longer be seen as a matter of…

The contemporary university has its place amid a world in total motion. The issue arises, then, as to what it is it to try to shape a university in the context of a world that lacks stability. The thesis argued here is twofold: (1) that the university should take seriously its entwinement with the world; indeed, with large eco-systems of the…

Purpose: This paper aims to propose a thesis about the historical evolution of the relationship of the European University in relation to the idea of social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is philosophical, conceptual and theoretical and in proffering a bold thesis, has an argumentative character appropriate to that style.…

In this paper, the public dimension of universities in Chile is examined. Interviews were held with academics at both public and private well-established universities and new private universities. The analysis shows a consensus regarding the production of certain public goods such as knowledge, wider access and the promotion of a public sphere. It…

This paper examines the relation between epistemology and higher education. We shall start by briefly examining three classical texts on the understanding of knowledge at universities, as well as noting some others, and go on to sketch a version of our own. Our argument is as follows: the world is such that the relationship between the university…

Almost 40 years ago, a book appeared by J.S. Brubacher entitled "On the Philosophy of Higher Education". Today, we have neither its successor nor a sense as to what such a book might contain. The argument here is that we currently lack a recognised subfield of study that might be termed "the philosophy of higher education". The…

This book explores whether it is possible to rehabilitate the idea of the liberal university in the modern age. It makes the case that it may be possible to sustain the idea of the university in the 21st century. The chapters of part 1, "The End of the Matter," are: (1) "The Ends of Reason"; (2) "A Complex World"; (3) "The States of Higher…

The idea of "the university" has stood for universal themes--of knowing, of truthfulness, of learning, of human development, and of critical reason. Through its affirming and sustaining of such themes, the university came itself to stand for universality in at least two senses: the university was neither partial (in its truth criteria) nor local…