Abstract
Universities in both Asia and the West are currently subject to great pressures of social change. Governments and business are seeking new ways to employ the skills of university professionals; the role of scholarship traditionally assigned to academics is now increasingly competing with the demand to be “relevant”. What should universities do under these conditions? How should they, and particularly the humanities and social sciences within them, define their role in the twenty-first century? In this paper, I will argue that the rhetoric of “the corporatised university”,and of “ideology construction” obscures the university’s distinct contribution to society. That contribution lies in a commitment to the traditions and anti-traditions of the past; in securing the university as a testing-ground of ideas produced within and outside the academy; and in protecting the three norms that govern free intellectual activity: cognitive rationality, open inquiry and reciprocal elucidation.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Macau and its neighbors toward the 21st century : Proceedings of the international symposium organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences and humanities at the University of Macau 2-3 June 1997 |
Editors | Rufino RAMOS, Rex WILSON, D. Y. YUAN, Jose ROCHA DINIS |
Place of Publication | Macau |
Publisher | Publications Center, University of Macau & Macau Foundation |
Pages | 245-250 |
Number of pages | 6 |
ISBN (Print) | 9789729763199 |
Publication status | Published - Dec 1998 |
Externally published | Yes |