ABSTRACT

The topics in this special issue and my own experience as a university teacher and researcher, now emerita, have led me to revisit a series of questions which have interested me for some time on the role, meaning and challenges of the university in today’s society. In the past 40 years, the unprecedented development of digital information and communication technologies, globalization and the increasing power of large corporations have disrupted value scales that were believed to be solidly entrenched. The way we create, store, access and assess information and knowledge; the world of work and knowledge; the competences and skills needed to access and remain in the university; and the ways we research and the very meaning of research have all been transformed. And the question is: What role does the university play today? Because the issues related to the ways academic responsibility and quality are assessed, the mechanisms of hiring and promoting teaching and research staff, support for innovation and scientific advancement and the role of scholarly publications in academic promotion may have very different answers depending on the institution’s mission, vision and ambition. In this text, I examine the four challenges of today’s university which I consider the most important, related to ‘excessive’ numbers of students, the exponential growth in information, the influence of business management and the bureaucratization of university work.

摘要

本期特刊中的主题以及我自己作为一名大学教师和研究员（现已退休）的经历，使我重新审视了一段时间以来对大学在当今社会中的作用、意义和挑战感兴趣的一系列问题。在过去的 40 年里，数字信息和通信技术的空前发展、全球化和大公司日益强大的力量已经打破了人们认为根深蒂固的价值尺度。我们创建、存储、访问和评估信息和知识的方式；工作和知识的世界；进入和留在大学所需的能力和技能；我们研究的方式和研究的意义都发生了变化。问题是：大学在今天扮演什么角色？因为与评估学术责任和质量的方式、聘用和晋升教研人员的机制、对创新和科学进步的支持以及学术出版物在学术促进中的作用有关的问题可能因机构的使命而有很大不同的答案，远见和抱负。在本文中，我考察了我认为当今大学最重要的四个挑战，这些挑战与学生人数“过多”、信息呈指数增长、企业管理的影响以及大学工作的官僚化有关。根据机构的使命、愿景和抱负，对创新和科学进步的支持以及学术出版物在学术推广中的作用可能会有非常不同的答案。在本文中，我考察了我认为当今大学最重要的四个挑战，这些挑战与学生人数“过多”、信息呈指数增长、企业管理的影响以及大学工作的官僚化有关。根据机构的使命、愿景和抱负，对创新和科学进步的支持以及学术出版物在学术推广中的作用可能会有非常不同的答案。在本文中，我考察了我认为当今大学最重要的四个挑战，这些挑战与学生人数“过多”、信息呈指数增长、企业管理的影响以及大学工作的官僚化有关。