Thinking about Higher Education

With higher education around the world in a period of extreme flux, this volume explores its underlying philosophy, a core element of the ongoing debate. Offering a diverse range of perspectives from an international selection of renowned scholars of higher education, the book is full of imaginative insights that add up to a substantive contribution to the discussion.

As universities attempt to adapt to a new environment characterized by stiff international competition, networked remote learning, burgeoning student numbers and comparative performance assessment, how we conceptualize the purpose and ethos of our higher learning institutions is more important than ever. This publication features a multitude of distinctive approaches that illuminate potential solutions to the complex issues universities must grapple with in these uncertain times. Rather than espousing a singular philosophical approach, the editors have assembled views from across the spectrum and from differing national contexts, representing a multidisciplinary response to the situation. This collection of papers aims thus to inspire fresh developments in the way we think about the complexities of and options available to, higher education.

1. Introduction, Paul Gibbs and Ron Barnett.- Section one - Positive Imagination.- 2. Thinking about higher education, Ron Barnett.- 3. Higher Education and Ethical Imagination, Marianna Papastephanou.- 4. Happiness not Salaries: The decline of universities and the emergence of higher education, Paul Gibbs.- Section Two – Finding the Public Good.- 5. Higher education and public good, Simon Marginson.- 6. Forces in Tension: The State, Civil Society and Market in the Future of the University, Brian Pusser.- 7. Beyond Neo-Liberalism: Higher Education in Europe and the Global Public Good, Barbara M. Kehm.- 8. Exploring futures for community engagement: uncertainty, difference, and responsibility, Tara Fenwick.- Section Three – Which knowledge and who can have it.- 9. Babies and bathwater: revaluing the role of the academy in knowledge, Leesa Wheelahan.- 10. Curriculum in Higher Education: Beyond false choices, Suellen Shay.- 11. Finding a Voice as a Student, Denise Bachelor.- 12. Into the heart of things Defrosting educational theory, Soren S.E. Bengtsen.- 13. Coda: Reaching for Higher Education.