Morgan, Ruth;
(2024)
Rethinking science in the 21ˢᵗ Century: Universities need to be meadows.
Frontiers Policy Labs
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Abstract
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.
| Type: | Working / discussion paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Rethinking science in the 21ˢᵗ Century: Universities need to be meadows |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.25453/plabs.25257151.v1 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.25453/plabs.25257151.v1 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 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/ |
| Keywords: | Science systems, Education systems, Science renaissance, Universities, |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Security and Crime Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10194543 |
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