The university as a public and autonomous sphere: Between enlightenment ideas and market demands

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of the modern university, focusing on the usually neglected areas of the arts and humanities, both as hubs of creativity and innovation and as crucial platforms for questioning societal norms and rules. The point of departure is Zygmunt Bauman’s notion of the university as a public space which promotes the culture of human rights and social justice against the moral blindness of utilitarian sciences. How is the contemporary university, under increasing market demands and pressure from the ‘culture of management’ maintaining this ethos? What does it mean to be a critically engaged university in the era of performance benchmarks and league tables, as universities increasingly opt for a pragmatic curricular approach to meet the expectations of big corporate employers? To what extent are innovative transdisciplinary courses and programmes, focusing on learning-as-process, rather than product, able to act as platforms for critical thinking and debate? How do these learning processes become modes of ‘remixing’ culture and knowledge through performances, public actions, workshops, conferences and seminars to activate different social agents?