%I Frontiers Policy Labs
%L discovery10194543
%K Science systems, Education systems, Science renaissance, Universities,
%J Frontiers Policy Labs
%X Historically universities have played a unique role in society. As institutions they are
inimitably placed to bring insight and capabilities from across a broad range of disciplines to
contribute significantly to their locale, and to the world’s largest and most significant and
impactful challenges - whether that is environmental sustainability, transforming healthcare
and education, or building a future that is more equitable. Universities are distinct from
other sectors (even those that undertake research and learning activities), in the way that
they can explore topics, make discoveries and offer perspectives and insight in the
immediate and longer term.
It is possible to argue that now, perhaps more than ever before, we need to ensure that
universities are able to continue to offer cutting edge and pioneering insights across the
sciences, social science, engineering and arts and humanities in ways that engage
meaningfully with government, industry, business and the third sector. Yet concerns about
the sustainability of universities globally are growing. The immediately presenting
symptoms of what is increasingly being referred to as a ‘crisis’ are varied. Yet, the symptoms
often appear to be derived from issues such as democratization, marketization, meritocracy
and freedom of speech, as well as the associated questions raised over the forms of value
that universities bring to society, as well as the mechanisms for funding their endeavours. In
the UK, it is possible to observe the cracks from decades of research and learning activities
that are not fully resourced. Partial funding has led to a financial model that is increasingly
less resilient to shocks and is less able to be agile and responsive to societal challenges that
are evolving at increasing pace.
%O © The Author(s), 2024. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
%A Ruth Morgan
%T Rethinking science in the 21ˢᵗ Century: Universities need to be meadows
%D 2024