Failure is a pervasive yet rarely articulated reality of being an academic. From grant rejections to fieldwork mistakes, this editorial introduces a special issue that engages with the notion of ‘failure’ within the neoliberal university. Highlighting the uncomfortable impacts of ‘failure’ across contrasting spaces and career stages, the authors explore its politics, power, and emotional resonance, as well as raising crucial questions of resistance, hope, and refusal within geography and its allied disciplines. Three key themes emerged from these 16 papers: (i) failure is embedded in the structures of the academy; (ii) failure is an inherent part of academic knowledge production; and (iii) failure is an experience that is not equally felt, but is contingent upon uneven power relations and positionalities. We situate the special issue within the context of the coronavirus pandemic and suggest that the failure of the university sector to cope with this existential threat has exposed the very worst characteristics of market-driven education. Ultimately, this special issue aims to push back against the fear and loneliness that ‘failure’ can create, in order to confront the neoliberal university. In troubling conventional models of ‘success’ and ‘failure’ in academia, we conclude that refusing to accept the unrealistic expectations, impositions, and demands of the University-Industrial Complex is not a failure at all.

失败是成为学者的普遍但鲜为人知的现实。从赠款拒绝到田野调查的错误，这篇社论引入了一个新问题，涉及新自由大学内部的“失败”概念。作者强调了“失败”在不同的空间和职业阶段所产生的令人不舒服的影响，并探讨了其失败的政治，力量和情感共鸣，并提出了地理及相关学科内部的抵制，希望和拒绝的关键问题。这16篇论文提出了三个关键主题：（i）失败根植于学院的结构中；（ii）失败是学术知识产生的固有部分；（iii）失败是一种并非平等地感受到的经历，但要视权力关系和职位的不平衡而定。我们将特殊问题放在冠状病毒大流行的背景下，并建议大学部门未能应对这种生存威胁，暴露了市场驱动型教育的最坏特征。最终，这个特刊旨在反击“失败”可能造成的恐惧和孤独，以面对新自由主义大学。在困扰学术界“成功”和“失败”的传统模式时，我们得出的结论是，拒绝接受大学-工业园区的不切实际的期望，气势和要求绝不是失败。本期专刊旨在克服“失败”可能造成的恐惧和孤独，以面对新自由主义大学。在困扰学术界“成功”和“失败”的传统模式时，我们得出的结论是，拒绝接受大学-工业园区的不切实际的期望，气势和要求绝不是失败。本期专刊旨在克服“失败”可能造成的恐惧和孤独，以面对新自由主义大学。在困扰学术界“成功”和“失败”的传统模式时，我们得出的结论是，拒绝接受大学-工业园区的不切实际的期望，气势和要求绝不是失败。