We invite you to the February seminar of the School Field, where we will turn our attention to a fundamental consideration of the university environment. This environment raises more and more current questions and also critical concerns, whether today, under the pressure of the ideology of neoliberalism, we are witnessing the disappearance of a venerable institution that otherwise survived eight hundred centuries. On this topic, the renowned English researcher of higher education and the “idea of the university” prof. Ronald Barnett (Institute of Education, London University), author of a series of high-profile books about the university, students and higher education, who will speak on this issue in the introductory part under the title Imagining the university.
The current debate about the university is “hopelessly impoverished”, says Professor Barnett, dominated by “considerations of the market, competition, marketable knowledge and control”, and alongside them is an “unnecessary pessimism” that needs to be countered by a “critical project of imagination”. In this way, he will also present his “concept of an ecological university”, which he writes about in his latest book. We are sure that the introductory lecture will, as always, be followed by a lively discussion in which we will ask questions and seek answers together with our guest. We can assure you that you will not be cold at the seminar!
The Coming of the Ecological University’, Oxford Review of Education, 2012, 37 (4)