ADMINISTERING THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FUTURE
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trained on a high scientific level. We don't need to split up today's univer–
sity system, and we want to continue democratic decision-making among
students, professors, assistant teachers, and administrators.
Professors tend to defend jealously their own disciplines and fields of
research. But only if the university conceives of itself as a social unit of
teaching and research where egotism and common interest are reconciled
will it be able to meet the challenges of an ever more complex world.
Sixth: education and science, research and teaching, are public, not pri–
vate domains. Therefore they are the responsibility of the state, not the
market. Only the state can guarantee social justice, social peace, and demo–
cratic access. This does not mean that the state should regulate everything
within the universities, such as every new recruitment or every new study
program. Greater autonomy would enhance the university's capacity to
organize itself. To that end, sufficient funds are needed from the German
government to keep up with other nations. State protection, academic free–
dom, and institutional autonomy do not automatically produce high-level
performance in teaching and research, but they provide the framework to
make it possible. The French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu is right when
he warns of a destruction of civilization, that "in Europe is closely con–
nected with a public service providing equality before the law, the right to
education, health, culture, research,
art,
and above all employment."
Seventh: globalization of markets will be followed by an internation–
alization of higher education. There's not very much we can do about it.
We should, however, maintain a vision of the university, contribute to
making international competition not the only element we have in com–
mon, and try to unite in a common quest for a future world that is more
social, more humane, and just for all its inhabitants.
Jon
Westling:
The subject of this portion of our conference is
"Administering the University of the Future." This is a heartening expres–
sion of optimism.
It
implies not only that universities will exist in the
future, but that someone will administer them.
Certainly that is not the only possible future which could be extrapo–
lated from our own times. Another, less optimistic, extrapolation might be
that we will reach the point where universities are as random, as decentral–
ized, as ubiqui tous, and as common as cable television and just as elevating.
Nevertheless, I am content to embrace the sanguine scenario suggest–
ed in our section title, and to announce my intention of administering the
university of the future, in part, by restoring some fine old pieces of the
university of the past.
A Boston University colleague who teaches a course on art in antiq–
uity recently forwarded to me a copy of a student's note. It was, naturally,
