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Engagement with Democracy: the next Big Idea in Australian higher education
Book chapter

Engagement with Democracy: the next Big Idea in Australian higher education

Jim Nyland
Higher education leadership for democracy, sustainability and social justice, pp.67-71
Council of Europe Higher Education Series , 26, Council Of Europe Publishing
11/2023

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Abstract

A university’s engagement is a kaleidoscope. It extends far and wide and reaches into schools, colleges, industries, commerce, research and development and employment of almost every kind. Universities are ubiquitous throughout communities in every country. The sheer and simple presence of universities in public life is a fact of astounding proportions on a world scale: whereas once universities were a refuge from “normal” life, where young people in particular delayed their entry into work and “real life”, universities are now engaging with the question of what their social purpose and function are in a fast-changing and uncertain world. Universities are everyone’s business. There are many issues to be considered to meet the challenge of reconstructing a university mission for the 21st century, such as the problematic nature of community engagement; developing local, regional and metropolitan-wide provision simultaneously; achieving social justice through educational interventions; and the role that might be played by cultural knowledge for individuals. While all these issues are currently under consideration, there is no obvious consensus emerging. The “anchor” function (see Maurrasse, Chapter 17 in this volume) of the engaged university, with its emphasis on multitasking and operating in many “markets” can be contrasted with the primary role of the university as a public educator. The fact that we are living in the digital world cannot be ignored, and neither can the cognitive concerns of learning skills in an age of information and surveillance capitalism which offers great challenges to the core values of liberal Western democracy…

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