Event title:

Great Debates in HE: Academic Freedom

Event details

Event details

Date:
Wednesday, 13th November 2019
Time:
15:00 - 16:30
Location:
Derwent SR5/5A
Campus:
Hull Campus
Categories:
  Great Debates in HE  

Event description

Event description

Should the university simply serve the state or society in which it is situated? The tension between the public utility and accountability of the university on the one hand and its core academic mission and the disinterested pursuit of truth on the other lies at the heart of the German philosopher Karl Jaspers’ reflections on the nature of this peculiar institution in his book The Idea of the University. Jaspers’ focus was a robust defence of academic freedom and a broadly Humbodtian conception of the university, and to resist any attempt to subordinate the university to external interests. But how far should this freedom extend, for faculty or for students, and in what circumstances can it legitimately be circumscribed?

Despotism and autocracy are still a very real threat to intellectual and academic freedom in many places; but the Humbodtian conception of the university is also threatened by change and the ascendency of technocratic values in its heartland of the liberal democracies. The threat is just as real, even though it is more insidious. In fact, because it is more insidious, it may be more serious. Jaspers’ reflections help us see what may be lost and why we should consider its loss seriously.

References
Jaspers, Karl, 1923. Der Idee der Universität. Berlin: Springer Verlag.
Jaspers, Karl, 1960. The Idea of the University, trans. H. A. T. Reiche & H. F. Vanderschmidt. London: Peter Owen.

UK Professional Standards Framework (HEA, 2011)
This event aligns to the UKPSF through the following core Activities (A), Knowledge (K) and Values (V): 

  • V4: Acknowledge the wider context in which higher education operates recognising the implications for professional practice.

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