Creating a New Public University and Reviving Democracy
Description
Public universities are in crisis, waning in their role as central institutions within democratic societies. Denunciations are abundant, but analyses of the causes and proposals to re-create public universities are not. Based on extensive experience with Action Research-based organizational change in universities and private sector organizations, Levin and Greenwood analyze the wreckage created by neoliberal academic administrators and policymakers. The authors argue that public universities must be democratically organized to perform their educational and societal functions. The book closes by laying out Action Research processes that can transform public universities back into institutions that promote academic freedom, integrity, and democracy.
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Persons
Morten Levin is Professor Emeritus of Industrial Economics and Technology Management at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. With degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Operations Research, Sociology, he has worked as an action researcher on processes and structures of social change.
Content
Acknowledgements
List of figures
Introduction: Democracy and Public Universities
PART I: PUBLIC GOODS, BILDUNG, PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES, AND DEMOCRACY
Chapter 1. Public Goods, Democracy, and Public Universities
Chapter 2. Multiple Models and Ideologies of Higher Education
Chapter 3. Bildung, Academic Freedom, Academic Integrity, and Democracy
PART II: UNIVERSITIES AS WORK ORGANIZATIONS: STAKEHOLDERS, STRUCTURES, SYSTEMS, STEERING, LEADERSHIP, AND ANTI-BILDUNG
Chapter 4. Work Organization of Universities: Structures
Chapter 5. Work Organization of Universities: Systemic Analysis
Chapter 6. Processes in the Work Organization of Universities: Socio-Technical Systems Design, Networking for Power, and Neo-Taylorism
Chapter 7. Leadership and Steering in Public Universities
PART III: THE ROAD FORWARD: ACTION RESEARCH FOR NEUE-BILDUNG IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Chapter 8. Action Research as a Strategy for Organizational Change
Chapter 9. Practicing Action Research in Public Universities
Conclusion: What Difference Could Action Research in Public Universities Make?
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