The Thinking University: Two Versions, Rival and Complementary

Abstract

The thinking university is evident in two forms: (i) thinking about the world, as structured in the disciplines and (ii) thinking about the university itself as an institution where, for example, a university attempts to steer some kind of direction for itself. Clearly, these two forms of thinking in the university interact. A thesis here is that that interplay is not even-handed but that thinking at level (ii) is dominating thinking at level (i). Thinking in the disciplines - academic thought as such - is constrained and even itself disciplined by the thought given over to the university qua institution. In brief, a university’s mission may influence academic thought as such, even if unwittingly. There is a characteristic rivalry at work here: disciplinary thought is outward looking, concerned to understand the world whereas institutional thought is inward looking, concerned instrumentally to steer the university through turbulent waters. However, this thesis is not the end of the matter. Strangely, the new conditions in which the university finds itself are opening new inducements for the university to think anew about itself and its responsibilities in the world. In turn, new spaces may even open for thinking in the disciplines. Complementarily, work in the disciplines - in all disciplines - can prompt fresh thinking about the university and its possibilities in the world. There are grounds for optimism.