Ronald Barnett – författare

"stimulating and full of insight" British Journal of Educational Studies"a major work ... provocative, unsettling and profoundly challenging. I think it should be prescribed reading for all vice-chancellors." (Professor Colin Bundy, Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)"Ron Barnett's latest book lives up to, and possibly exceeds, the high standards he has set himself in his previous books - which are now established as the premier series of reflective books on higher education." (Professor Peter Scott, Vice-Chancellor, Kingston University)"Ron Barnett has produced a thought provoking volume that raises fundamental issues about higher education. It is essential reading for all who work in universities." (Professor Robert Burgess, Vice-Chancellor, University of Leicester)"a lively and engaging book which addresses the problems of the modern university from the perspective of modern social theory." Higher Education Review"The issues taken up in this book are significant to everyone in the academy, particularly those in leadership positions." Studies in Higher Education"This is a knowing, stimulating treatise that confronts some of the most difficult and complicated problems that universities face."Journal of Higher EducationUniversities are increasingly ideological. Many of the ideologies that are to be found on campus, such as entrepreneurialism, competition, quality and managerialism, express interests of the wider society but the university's own activities, such as research and even learning and teaching, are also becoming ideologies. Since ideologies are dogmatic in character, universities are being undermined and are being placed beyond all reason.How, then, might universities live effectively, beset as they are with ideologies in their midst? Indeed, is it still sensible to conceive of universities as places of reason? In Beyond All Reason, Ronald Barnett argues that ideology is now a fact of life in universities but that a positive way forward is within reach.Ideologies have been understood, rightly, as pernicious in nature, thwarting reason and the expression of human being. However, by returning to the ideals of reasonableness and generosity within the idea of the university, and by developing creative practices that build on those ideals, it is possible to construct virtuous idealogies that do justice to universities as universities in the twenty-first century.Beyond All Reason continues Ronald Barnett's attempts to show that it is still possible to hold to and to live out an idea of the university. It is a bold and optimistic statement and is required reading for anyone concerned about the current state of university life.

There is greater interest than ever before in higher education: more money is being spent on it, more students are registered and more courses are being taught. And yet the matter that is arguably at the heart of higher education, the curriculum, is noticeable for its absence in public debate and in the literature on higher education. This book begins to redress the balance.

Even though the term ‘curriculum’ may be missing from debates on higher education, curricula are changing rapidly and in significant ways. What we are seeing, therefore, is curriculum change by stealth, in which curricula are being reframed to enable students to acquire skills that have market value. In turn, curricula are running the risk of fragmenting as knowledge and skills exert their separate claims. Such a fragmented curriculum is falling well short of the challenges of the twenty-first century.

A complex and uncertain world requires curricula in which students as human beings are placed at their centre: what is called for are curricula that offer no less than the prospect of encouraging the formation of human being and becoming. A curriculum of this kind has to be understood as the imaginative design of spaces where creative things can happen as students become engaged.

Based upon a study of curricula in UK universities, Engaging the Curriculum in Higher Education offers an uncompromising thesis about the development of higher education and is essential reading for those who care about its future.

There is an extraordinary but largely unnoticed phenomenon in higher education: by and large, students persevere and complete their studies. How should we interpret this tendency? Students are living in uncertain times and often experience anxiety, and yet they continue to press forward with their studies. The argument here is that we should understand this propensity on the part of students to persist through a will to learn.

This book examines the structure of what it is to have a will to learn. Here, a language of being, becoming, authenticity, dispositions, voice, air, spirit, inspiration and care is drawn on. As such, this book offers an idea of student development that challenges the dominant views of our age, of curricula understood largely in terms of skill or even of knowledge, and pedagogy understood as bringing off pre-specified ‘outcomes’.

The will to learn, though, can be fragile. This is of crucial importance, for if the will to learn dissolves, the student's commitment may falter. Accordingly, more than encouraging an interest in the student's subject or in the acquiring of skills, the primary responsibility of teachers in higher education is to sustain and develop the student's will to learn. This is a radical thesis, for it implies a transformation in how we understand the nature of teaching in higher education.

Providing a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy of higher education this book steps nimbly through the field, leading it into new areas and advancing an imaginative ecological realism. Each chapter takes the form of a short essay, tackling a particular topic such as values, knowledge, teaching, critical thinking and social justice. It also examines key issues including academic freedom, the digital university and the Anthropocene, and draws on classic as well as contemporary texts in the field.Composed of five parts, the book travels on a compelling journey: Part one identifies foundations of the field, distinguishing between the ideas of university and higher education, Part two examines key concepts, including research, culture, academic freedom and reason, Part three focuses on higher education as a set of educational practices and being a student, Part four is concerned with the university as an institution and includes the matters of leadership and the spirit of the university, Part five turns to the university in the world, and argues for an ecological perspective.Written in a lively and accessible style, and ideal for anyone coming to the field for the first time but also of interest to experienced scholars, this book offers sightings of new possibilities for higher education and the university.

Every business and organization today needs to impress stakeholders with its ethics policy. Universities, Ethics and Professions examines how this emphasis on ethics by the professional world is impacting universities, institutions that have long been key contributors to ethical reflection and debate, and shapers of ethical discourse. Changing objectives, globalization, and public concerns continue to bring professionalism, and commercialization, into the dialogue about what ethics mean on campus.Universities, Ethics and Professions offers an in-depth examination of the changing landscape of academic ethics, with case-study analysis from sociologists, educationalists, management specialists and philosophers. As professionalism becomes an integral part of university teaching, training, and research, this book considers the impact on the ethical practices of academics, and explores the importance of universities remaining sites of open discourse on ethics in the future.

Providing a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy of higher education this book steps nimbly through the field, leading it into new areas and advancing an imaginative ecological realism. Each chapter takes the form of a short essay, tackling a particular topic such as values, knowledge, teaching, critical thinking and social justice. It also examines key issues including academic freedom, the digital university and the Anthropocene, and draws on classic as well as contemporary texts in the field.Composed of five parts, the book travels on a compelling journey: Part one identifies foundations of the field, distinguishing between the ideas of university and higher education, Part two examines key concepts, including research, culture, academic freedom and reason, Part three focuses on higher education as a set of educational practices and being a student, Part four is concerned with the university as an institution and includes the matters of leadership and the spirit of the university, Part five turns to the university in the world, and argues for an ecological perspective.Written in a lively and accessible style, and ideal for anyone coming to the field for the first time but also of interest to experienced scholars, this book offers sightings of new possibilities for higher education and the university.

In this timely and innovative book scholars from Europe, the UK, North America and Australia, explore their own sense of identity, reflecting both on their research and scholarly interests, and their work experiences. Taking the form of a debate, Changing Identities in Higher Education helps to widen the contemporary space for debates on the future of higher education itself. The book is split into three parts:part one presents a set of essays each on a set of identities within higher education (academic, student, administrative/managerial and educational developers). part two includes responses to Part one from authors speaking from their own professional and scholarly identity perspective part three illustrates perspectives on the identities of students, provided by students themselves. With its original, dialogic form and varied content, this book is of interest to all those concerned in current debates about the state and nature of higher education today and those interested in questions of identity. It makes especially useful reading for students of higher education, lecturers in training, academics and managers alike.

This provocative and challenging book questions how people think about what universities should seek to do and how they should respond to the grave problems of our age. It addresses issues such as: What is wisdom? Ought universities to seek, promote and teach wisdom and what would this involve? Does it mean we need a revolution in the aims and methods of academic inquiry? What implications would the pursuit of wisdom have for science, for social inquiry and the humanities, for education? Is it reasonable to ask of universities that they take up the task of helping humanity learn how to create a wiser world? Is there a religious dimension to wisdom? What can non-academics do to encourage universities to take wisdom seriously? Would the pursuit of wisdom be possible given that universities are increasingly subjected to commercial pressures? With contributions from leading experts in various fields Wisdom in the University is essential reading for all those interested in the future of universities and philosophy of education.This book was previously published as a special issue of London Review of Education

This provocative and challenging book questions how people think about what universities should seek to do and how they should respond to the grave problems of our age. It addresses issues such as: What is wisdom? Ought universities to seek, promote and teach wisdom and what would this involve? Does it mean we need a revolution in the aims and methods of academic inquiry? What implications would the pursuit of wisdom have for science, for social inquiry and the humanities, for education? Is it reasonable to ask of universities that they take up the task of helping humanity learn how to create a wiser world? Is there a religious dimension to wisdom? What can non-academics do to encourage universities to take wisdom seriously? Would the pursuit of wisdom be possible given that universities are increasingly subjected to commercial pressures? With contributions from leading experts in various fields Wisdom in the University is essential reading for all those interested in the future of universities and philosophy of education.This book was previously published as a special issue of London Review of Education

In this timely and innovative book scholars from Europe, the UK, North America and Australia, explore their own sense of identity, reflecting both on their research and scholarly interests, and their work experiences. Taking the form of a debate, Changing Identities in Higher Education helps to widen the contemporary space for debates on the future of higher education itself. The book is split into three parts:part one presents a set of essays each on a set of identities within higher education (academic, student, administrative/managerial and educational developers). part two includes responses to Part one from authors speaking from their own professional and scholarly identity perspective part three illustrates perspectives on the identities of students, provided by students themselves. With its original, dialogic form and varied content, this book is of interest to all those concerned in current debates about the state and nature of higher education today and those interested in questions of identity. It makes especially useful reading for students of higher education, lecturers in training, academics and managers alike.

There is no single idea of the university. Ever since its medieval origin, the concept of the university has continued to change. The metaphysical university gave way successively to the scientific university, and then to the corporate and the entrepreneurial university. But what, then, might lie ahead?Being a University both charts this conceptual development and examines the future possibilities for the idea of the university. Ronald Barnett pursues this quest through an exploration of pairs of contending concepts that speak to the idea of the university – such as space and time; being and becoming; and culture and anarchy. On this foundation is developed an imaginative exposition of possible ideas of the university, including the liquid university and the authentic university.In the course of this inquiry, it is argued that:Any thought that the idea of the entrepreneurial university represents the end-point of the evolution of the idea of the university has to be abandoned. The entrepreneurial university is excessively parochial and ill-matched to the challenges facing the universityA responsibility of the university is precisely that of working out an imaginative conception of its future possibilities. The boldest and largest thinking is urgently requiredThe fullest expression of the university’s possibilities lies in a reclamation of the universal aspirations that lay in earlier ideas of the university. The ecological university represents just such a universal aspiration, suited to the unfolding demands of the future.Being a University will be of wide interest, to institutional leaders and managers, higher education planners, academics in all disciplines and students of higher education, in educational policy and politics, and the philosophy, sociology and theory of education, and indeed, anyone who believes in the future of the university.

There is no single idea of the university. Ever since its medieval origin, the concept of the university has continued to change. The metaphysical university gave way successively to the scientific university, and then to the corporate and the entrepreneurial university. But what, then, might lie ahead?Being a University both charts this conceptual development and examines the future possibilities for the idea of the university. Ronald Barnett pursues this quest through an exploration of pairs of contending concepts that speak to the idea of the university – such as space and time; being and becoming; and culture and anarchy. On this foundation is developed an imaginative exposition of possible ideas of the university, including the liquid university and the authentic university.In the course of this inquiry, it is argued that:Any thought that the idea of the entrepreneurial university represents the end-point of the evolution of the idea of the university has to be abandoned. The entrepreneurial university is excessively parochial and ill-matched to the challenges facing the universityA responsibility of the university is precisely that of working out an imaginative conception of its future possibilities. The boldest and largest thinking is urgently requiredThe fullest expression of the university’s possibilities lies in a reclamation of the universal aspirations that lay in earlier ideas of the university. The ecological university represents just such a universal aspiration, suited to the unfolding demands of the future.Being a University will be of wide interest, to institutional leaders and managers, higher education planners, academics in all disciplines and students of higher education, in educational policy and politics, and the philosophy, sociology and theory of education, and indeed, anyone who believes in the future of the university.

Around the world, what it is to be a university is a matter of much debate. The range of ideas of the university in public circulation is, however, exceedingly narrow and is dominated by the idea of the entrepreneurial university. As a consequence, the debate is hopelessly impoverished. Lurking in the literature, there is a broad and even imaginative array of ideas of the university, but those ideas are seldom heard. We need, consequently, not just more ideas of the university but better ideas. Imagining the University forensically examines this situation, critically interrogating many of the current ideas of the university. Imagining the University argues for imaginative ideas that are critical, sensitive to the deep structures underlying universities and are yet optimistic, in short feasible utopias of the university. The case is pressed for one such idea, that of the ecological university. The book concludes by offering a vision of the imagining university, a university that has the capacity continually to re-imagine itself.

Around the world, what it is to be a university is a matter of much debate. The range of ideas of the university in public circulation is, however, exceedingly narrow and is dominated by the idea of the entrepreneurial university. As a consequence, the debate is hopelessly impoverished. Lurking in the literature, there is a broad and even imaginative array of ideas of the university, but those ideas are seldom heard. We need, consequently, not just more ideas of the university but better ideas. Imagining the University forensically examines this situation, critically interrogating many of the current ideas of the university. Imagining the University argues for imaginative ideas that are critical, sensitive to the deep structures underlying universities and are yet optimistic, in short feasible utopias of the university. The case is pressed for one such idea, that of the ecological university. The book concludes by offering a vision of the imagining university, a university that has the capacity continually to re-imagine itself.

Higher education and the institution of the university exist in time, their essential nature now continually subject to change: change in students, in knowledge, in structure and in their own communities and those they service. These changes are accompanied by a quickening of time, leading to a heightened intensity of academic life. Yet the nature of time in all the contemporary work on the university has been largely overlooked. This is an important omission and Universities in the Flux of Time has gathered leading academics whose contributions to the volume raise a debate as to the influence and use of time in the university. They do this in an exploration of how these changes are perceived in higher education and how these affect its temporality from local, national and global perspectives. By dealing with the time within the university, the book opens new spaces for the development of the university and civic society.The book develops an interdisciplinary understanding of the temporal issues of engaging with the past, present and future of higher education and its institutions, through consideration of the increased speed demanded for the production of able students and innovative research, to the accountability pressures from central governments and commerce. Reflecting on these issues in the higher education sector, Universities in the Flux of Time is split into three parts, with each one addressing time and its multiple relationships with the university: Past, present and future Knowledge and time Living with timeThis volume will provide essential reading for those on higher education studies courses as well as a wider audience of managers, practitioners, policy makers, academics and students and from many disciplinary perspectives including sociology, organisation studies, social psychology and the philosophy of education.

Higher education and the institution of the university exist in time, their essential nature now continually subject to change: change in students, in knowledge, in structure and in their own communities and those they service. These changes are accompanied by a quickening of time, leading to a heightened intensity of academic life. Yet the nature of time in all the contemporary work on the university has been largely overlooked. This is an important omission and Universities in the Flux of Time has gathered leading academics whose contributions to the volume raise a debate as to the influence and use of time in the university. They do this in an exploration of how these changes are perceived in higher education and how these affect its temporality from local, national and global perspectives. By dealing with the time within the university, the book opens new spaces for the development of the university and civic society.The book develops an interdisciplinary understanding of the temporal issues of engaging with the past, present and future of higher education and its institutions, through consideration of the increased speed demanded for the production of able students and innovative research, to the accountability pressures from central governments and commerce. Reflecting on these issues in the higher education sector, Universities in the Flux of Time is split into three parts, with each one addressing time and its multiple relationships with the university: Past, present and future Knowledge and time Living with timeThis volume will provide essential reading for those on higher education studies courses as well as a wider audience of managers, practitioners, policy makers, academics and students and from many disciplinary perspectives including sociology, organisation studies, social psychology and the philosophy of education.

Winner of the Comparative and International Education Society Higher Education Special Interest Group Best Book Award for 2014!As universities increasingly engage with the world beyond the classroom and the campus, those who work within higher education are left to examine how the university’s mission has changed. Official reviews and debates often forget to inquire into the purposes and responsibilities of universities, and how they are changing. Where these matters are addressed, they are rarely pursued in depth, and rarely go beyond current circumstances. Those who care about the university’s role in society are left looking for a renewed sense of purpose regarding its goals and aspirations.The Future University explores new avenues opening up to universities and tackles fundamental issues facing their development. Contributors with interdisciplinary and international perspectives imagine ways to frame the university’s future. They consider the history of the university, its current status as an active player in local governments, cultures, and markets, and where these trajectories may lead. What does it mean to be a university in the twenty-first century? What could the university become? What limitations do they face, and what opportunities might lie ahead? This volume in the International Studies in Higher Education series offers bold and imaginative possibilities.

Winner of the Comparative and International Education Society Higher Education Special Interest Group Best Book Award for 2014!As universities increasingly engage with the world beyond the classroom and the campus, those who work within higher education are left to examine how the university’s mission has changed. Official reviews and debates often forget to inquire into the purposes and responsibilities of universities, and how they are changing. Where these matters are addressed, they are rarely pursued in depth, and rarely go beyond current circumstances. Those who care about the university’s role in society are left looking for a renewed sense of purpose regarding its goals and aspirations.The Future University explores new avenues opening up to universities and tackles fundamental issues facing their development. Contributors with interdisciplinary and international perspectives imagine ways to frame the university’s future. They consider the history of the university, its current status as an active player in local governments, cultures, and markets, and where these trajectories may lead. What does it mean to be a university in the twenty-first century? What could the university become? What limitations do they face, and what opportunities might lie ahead? This volume in the International Studies in Higher Education series offers bold and imaginative possibilities.

Every business and organization today needs to impress stakeholders with its ethics policy. Universities, Ethics and Professions examines how this emphasis on ethics by the professional world is impacting universities, institutions that have long been key contributors to ethical reflection and debate, and shapers of ethical discourse. Changing objectives, globalization, and public concerns continue to bring professionalism, and commercialization, into the dialogue about what ethics mean on campus.Universities, Ethics and Professions offers an in-depth examination of the changing landscape of academic ethics, with case-study analysis from sociologists, educationalists, management specialists and philosophers. As professionalism becomes an integral part of university teaching, training, and research, this book considers the impact on the ethical practices of academics, and explores the importance of universities remaining sites of open discourse on ethics in the future.

From Critical Thinking to Criticality sets out a bold case for critical thinking across the university. It inquires into the need for, and the nature of, critical thinking; and it expounds new theories and arguments that are applicable not only across disciplines but, even more, across the university as the complex institution that it is. Against the horizon of the contemporary world, this book notes how critical thinking is in jeopardy and considers the inadequacy of the technical debates in the academic literature. It picks up and radically develops the idea of criticality into a new idea of the university in a troubled world. Hidden potential lies within the university – independently of its study programmes – to advance students’ criticality.With arguments situated in the contexts of ecological crises, the rise of artificial intelligence, the tense relationship of states and their universities, political populism and the emergence of a post-truth age, this book urges that criticality be re-instated and anew in the university. It is essential reading for students, academics, and senior leaders in universities, as well as anyone concerned to re-examine the significance of critical thinking for the world.

From Critical Thinking to Criticality sets out a bold case for critical thinking across the university. It inquires into the need for, and the nature of, critical thinking; and it expounds new theories and arguments that are applicable not only across disciplines but, even more, across the university as the complex institution that it is. Against the horizon of the contemporary world, this book notes how critical thinking is in jeopardy and considers the inadequacy of the technical debates in the academic literature. It picks up and radically develops the idea of criticality into a new idea of the university in a troubled world. Hidden potential lies within the university – independently of its study programmes – to advance students’ criticality.With arguments situated in the contexts of ecological crises, the rise of artificial intelligence, the tense relationship of states and their universities, political populism and the emergence of a post-truth age, this book urges that criticality be re-instated and anew in the university. It is essential reading for students, academics, and senior leaders in universities, as well as anyone concerned to re-examine the significance of critical thinking for the world.

For hundreds of years, knowledge has been central in understanding the university. Over recent decades, however, it is the economic value of knowledge that has come to the fore. Now, in a post-truth world, knowledge is also treated with suspicion and has become a vehicle for ideologies. Knowledge and the University combats all these ways of thinking. Its central claim is that knowledge is of value because of its connection with life. Knowledge is of life, from life, in life and for life. With an engaging philosophical discussion, and with a consideration of the evolution of higher education institutions, this book: Examines ways in which research, teaching and learning are bound up with life; Looks to breathe new life into the university itself; Widens the idea of the knowledge ecology to embrace the whole world; Suggests new roles for the university towards culture and the public sphere.Knowledge and the University is a radical text that looks to engender nothing less than a new spirit of the university. It offers a fascinating read for policy makers, institutional leaders, academics and all interested in the future of universities.

For hundreds of years, knowledge has been central in understanding the university. Over recent decades, however, it is the economic value of knowledge that has come to the fore. Now, in a post-truth world, knowledge is also treated with suspicion and has become a vehicle for ideologies. Knowledge and the University combats all these ways of thinking. Its central claim is that knowledge is of value because of its connection with life. Knowledge is of life, from life, in life and for life. With an engaging philosophical discussion, and with a consideration of the evolution of higher education institutions, this book: Examines ways in which research, teaching and learning are bound up with life; Looks to breathe new life into the university itself; Widens the idea of the knowledge ecology to embrace the whole world; Suggests new roles for the university towards culture and the public sphere.Knowledge and the University is a radical text that looks to engender nothing less than a new spirit of the university. It offers a fascinating read for policy makers, institutional leaders, academics and all interested in the future of universities.

Ecologies for Learning and Practice provides the first systematic account of the ideas of learning ecologies and ecologies of practice and locates the two concepts within the context of our contemporary world. It focuses on how individuals and society are being presented with all manner of learning challenges arising from fluidities and disruptions, which extend across all domains of life. This book examines emerging ways of understanding and living purposively in these new fluidities and provides fresh perspectives on the way we learn and achieve in such dynamic contexts.Providing an insight into the research of a range of internationally renowned contributors, this book explores diverse topics from the higher education and adult learning worlds. These include: The challenges faced by education systems today The concept of ecologies for learning and practice The role and responsibility of higher education institutions in advancing ecological approaches to learning The different eco-social systems of the world—local and global, economic, cultural, practical, technological, and ethical How adult learners might create and manage their own ecologies for learning and practice in order to sustain themselves and flourishWith its proposals for individual and institutional learning in the 21st century and concerns for our sustainability in a fragile world, Ecologies for Learning and Practice is an essential guide for all who seek to encourage and facilitate learning in a world that is fundamentally ecological in nature.

Ecologies for Learning and Practice provides the first systematic account of the ideas of learning ecologies and ecologies of practice and locates the two concepts within the context of our contemporary world. It focuses on how individuals and society are being presented with all manner of learning challenges arising from fluidities and disruptions, which extend across all domains of life. This book examines emerging ways of understanding and living purposively in these new fluidities and provides fresh perspectives on the way we learn and achieve in such dynamic contexts.Providing an insight into the research of a range of internationally renowned contributors, this book explores diverse topics from the higher education and adult learning worlds. These include: The challenges faced by education systems today The concept of ecologies for learning and practice The role and responsibility of higher education institutions in advancing ecological approaches to learning The different eco-social systems of the world—local and global, economic, cultural, practical, technological, and ethical How adult learners might create and manage their own ecologies for learning and practice in order to sustain themselves and flourishWith its proposals for individual and institutional learning in the 21st century and concerns for our sustainability in a fragile world, Ecologies for Learning and Practice is an essential guide for all who seek to encourage and facilitate learning in a world that is fundamentally ecological in nature.

Universities continue to expand, bringing considerable debate about their purposes and relationship to the world. In The Ecological University, Ronald Barnett argues that universities are short of their potential and responsibilities in an ever-changing and challenging environment. This book centres on the idea that the expansion of higher education has opened new spaces and possibilities. The university is interconnected with a number of ecosystems: knowledge, social institutions, persons, the economy, learning, culture and the natural environment. These seven ecosystems of the university are all fragile and in order to advance and develop them universities need to engage with each one.By looking at matters such as the challenges of learning, professional life and research and inquiry, this book outlines just what it could mean for higher education institutions to understand and realize themselves as exemplars of the ecological university. With bold and original insights and practical principles for development, this radical and transformative book is essential reading for university leaders and administrators, academics, students, and all interested in the future of the university.

Universities continue to expand, bringing considerable debate about their purposes and relationship to the world. In The Ecological University, Ronald Barnett argues that universities are short of their potential and responsibilities in an ever-changing and challenging environment. This book centres on the idea that the expansion of higher education has opened new spaces and possibilities. The university is interconnected with a number of ecosystems: knowledge, social institutions, persons, the economy, learning, culture and the natural environment. These seven ecosystems of the university are all fragile and in order to advance and develop them universities need to engage with each one.By looking at matters such as the challenges of learning, professional life and research and inquiry, this book outlines just what it could mean for higher education institutions to understand and realize themselves as exemplars of the ecological university. With bold and original insights and practical principles for development, this radical and transformative book is essential reading for university leaders and administrators, academics, students, and all interested in the future of the university.

In the World Library of Educationalists series, international scholars compile career-long selections of what they judge to be among their finest pieces so the world has access to them in a single manageable volume. Readers are able to follow the themes and strands and see how their work contributes to the development of the field.Over more than three decades, Professor Ronald Barnett has acquired a distinctive position as a leading philosopher of the university and higher education, and this volume brings together 15 of his key writings, particularly papers from leading journals. This volume also includes, as his introductory chapter, an intellectual autobiography, in which Professor Barnett recounts the history of his scholarship and writing, traces its development across five stages, and identifies the themes and sources of inspiration that lie within his corpus of work.Ronald Barnett has described his corpus of work as a social philosophy of the university that is at once conceptual, critical, practical and imaginative. His concepts of criticality, critical interdisciplinarity, supercomplexity and the ecological university have been taken up in the literature across the world. Through telling examples, and with an incisive clarity of writing, Ronald Barnett’s scholarship has helped to illuminate in fresh ways and reorient practices in the university and in higher education. The chapters in this volume reveal all of these qualities so making this volume a compelling overview of a passionate and yet constructive critic of the university.