Transcript Document

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Universities behaving badly?
Seminar for the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy
New York University
28 February 2008
David Watson, Institute of Education, University of London
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The ethical turn
Although no one will deny that a business must be profitable, the sole preoccupation with profit to the exclusion or neglect of other considerations is no
longer acceptable. Manuel Mendonca and Rabindra Kanungo, Ethical
Leadership, Open University Press (2007), p.3.
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Howard Gardner et al., the
“Goodwork” project.
Work that is:
•of excellent technical quality;
•ethically pursued and socially responsible;
•engaging, enjoyable and feels good.
Responsibility at Work (Jossey-Bass, 2007), p. 5.
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Conditions of “good” professional
work
Alignment of:
•individual beliefs;
•values of the domain;
•forces of the field;
•reward system of the society.
Ibid, p. 8.
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The ethical “idea of a university”
“The university reveals its own ethical standards in many ways,
including its scrupulousness in upholding ethical standards, its
decency and fairness in dealing with students and employees, and its
sensitivity in relating to the community in which it resides.” Derek Bok,
“Our Underachieving Colleges” (2006).
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HE and the “benefit of the doubt”
Like hospitals colleges have generally got the benefit of the doubt on
the question of why they cost so much, and many people still regard
them as selfless institutions above and beyond the self-serving rules of
the marketplace. But their reputation for probity and virtue is
deteriorating fast.” Andrew Delbanco, The New York Times 30.0.07
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US universities behaving badly: a
transatlantic view
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2.
3.
4.
5.
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Athletics
Hazing
Merit and need
Endowments and independence
Brokering private funding
6. Study abroad
7. League tables
8. Free speech?
9. Independence in research
10. Grade inflation
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Universities behaving badly (1):
students (and their sponsors)
•Promotion and advice
•Admissions
•Merit vs. need
•Condescension
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Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind
(1998).
Students these days are, in general, nice. I choose the word carefully. They
are not particularly moral or noble. Such niceness is a facet of
democratic character when times are good. Neither war nor tyranny nor
want has hardened them or made demands upon them. The wounds and
rivalries caused by class distinction have disappeared along with any
strong sense of class…..Students these days are pleasant, friendly and if
not great-souled, at least not particularly mean-spirited. Their primary
preoccupation is themselves, understood in the narrowest sense (Bloom,
1998: 82-83).
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Universities behaving badly (2): staff
•Intimidation
•New managerialism?
•False consciousness
•Academic populism
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The question of civility
“Being a dean in an arts faculty is very tough. Why? Because colleagues in the social sciences and
humanities have been trained to be hyper-critical. Their disciplinary expertise provides them with a
toolbox of devices to dissect and unravel the implementation of the best-intended strategic initiatives.
They increasingly exercise this talent in extraordinarily difficult funding environments…. They operate in
an environment in which a quickly written email may generate detailed semiotic analysis and imputation
of ill intent.
In the academic environment, very clever people may turn their very clever minds to negative ends. We
can understand and rationalise this. It reflects in some ways colleagues' passionate commitment to their
discipline, to their scholarship and their intellectual autonomy. It reflects the influence of the challenging,
under-resourced environment in which we work.
But it also may reflect an unwillingness to exercise what John Paul Lederach calls the moral imagination,
the ability to empathise, to build peace, in this case with those who do their best to lead.” (Sharon Bell,
“The Australian” 12 September 2007)
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Universities behaving badly (3): the
local community
•History
•Facilities
•“Studentification”
•Planning
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Universities behaving badly (4): civil
society
•Self-interest
•Stewardship
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Universities behaving badly (5):
partners and “stakeholders”
•Nurture and noise
•Sharing risk
•The public service alliance
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Universities behaving badly (6): the
state (and government)
•Crusades
•Truth-telling
•Do we really want autonomy?
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Universities behaving badly (7): the
global community
•Beyond the bottom line
•HE and development
•Environmental responsibility
•The mirage of “world-classness”
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World-classness
•Statistics
•Politics
•Journalism
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What makes a university world-class?
The objective score board
The subjective beauty contest
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Shanghai Jiao Tong: 2004 and 2005
Alumni prizes
Staff prizes
Highly cited researchers
Science citations
Soc. Sci./Humanities citations
Adjustment for size
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10%
20%
20%
20%
20%
10%
THES 2005
Peer review
Employer ratings
Citations per FTE staff
SSR
International staff
International students
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40%
10%
20%
20%
5%
5%
World-classness
What counts
What doesn’t count
•Research
•Media interest
•Graduate destinations
•Infrastructure
•International “executive” recruitment
•Teaching quality
•Social mobility
•Services to business and the
community
•Rural interests
•Other public services
•Collaboration
•The public interest
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Universities behaving badly (8): the
sector
•A “controlled reputational range”
•“Gangs”
•Reputation and quality
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Reputation over quality
“Institutions such as my own are outposts of serious and bright
students of modest or low-income background taught by dedicated
faculty who are often respected researchers as well. These institutions
are home to a democratic institutional culture simply not possible at
elite institutions…It is time that the national agonizing about the income
bias of elite institutions shifts its focus to these institutions.” Lawrence
Blum, The New York Review of Books.
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Leadership issues
•Emotional intelligence
•Self-study
•Stewardship
•Security
•Corporate responsibility
•Joy (and mercy)
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Discussion