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Universal Design in Video Games: Active Participation Through Accessible Play (Human–Computer Interaction Series)
by Adam Palmquist Izabella Jedel Ole GoetheAs participation in game related activities increases around the world and across a larger part of the population, it is obvious that games are not just an entertainment medium for children or young people. Games can be used to accomplish different purposes for different groups of people in society. Developing a universal designed game involves more than adding a cast of diverse characters. Games with universal design, at their core, are experiences that are designed from the ground up to be accessible to everyone – through mechanics, options, and user experience. This book explains the meaning and need for universal design in video games and sheds light on important disciplines. Researchers define a universal designed game as a video game that actively welcomes all players. When players connect authentically with a video game, they’re much more likely to engage with the content. Conversely, when players can’t physically play a game, or don’t see characters that look like them, they feel isolated and miss out on beneficial opportunities to learn and collaborate. Universal design maximizes the impact of playing games, for instance, by ensuring that they’re accessible, empowering and representative for every participant.
Universal Health Care 101: Lessons for the Eastern Caribbean and Beyond
by Evridiki TsountaA report from the International Monetary Fund.
Universal Man: The Lives of John Maynard Keynes
by Richard Davenport-HinesIn Universal Man, noted biographer and historian Richard Davenport-Hines revives our understanding of John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), the twentieth century’s most charismatic and revolutionary economist. Keynes helped FDR launch the New Deal, saved Britain from financial crisis twice over the course of two World Wars, and instructed Western nations on how to protect themselves from revolutionary unrest, economic instability, high unemployment, and social dissolution. Isaiah Berlin called Keynes “the cleverest man I ever knew”—both “superior and intellectually awe-inspiring. ” Eric Hobsbawm, the twentieth century’s preeminent historian, considered him as influential as Lenin, Stalin, Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, Gandhi, and Mao. Keynes was nothing less than the Adam Smith of his time: his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936, became the most important economics book of the twentieth century, as important as Smith’s Wealth of Nations in inaugurating an economic era. Keynes’s brilliant ideas made possible 35 years of prosperity after the Second World War, the most sustained period of rapid expansion in history. And now, and in the wake of the 2008 global economic collapse, he is once again shaping our world. Every day, we are likely to hear about “Keynesian economics” or the “Keynesian Revolution,” terms that testify to his continuing influence on both economic theory and government policies. Indeed, with the thorough discrediting of his opponents—Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, and other supporters of the notion that capitalism is self-regulating, and needs no government intervention—nations across the world are turning to Keynes’s signature innovations: above all that governments must involve themselves in their economies to stave off financial collapse. Previous biographies have explored Keynes economic thought at great length and often in the jargon of the discipline. Universal Man is the first accessible biography of Keynes, and reveals Keynes as much more than an economist. Like many Englishmen of his class and era, Keynes compartmentalized his life. Accordingly, Davenport-Hines views Keynes through multiple windows, as a youthful prodigy, a powerful government official, an influential public man, a bisexual living in the shadow of Oscar Wilde’s persecution, a devotee of the arts, and an international statesman of great renown. Delving into Keynes’s experiences and thought, Davenport-Hines shows us a man who was equally at ease socialising with the Bloomsbury Group as he was persuading heads of state to adopt his policies. Exploring the desires and experiences that compelled Keynes to innovate, Davenport-Hines is the first to argue that Keynesian economics has an aesthetic basis. In this book we come to understand not just the most enduringly influential economist of the modern era, but one of the most gifted and vital men of our times: a disciplined logician with a capacity for glee who persuaded people, seduced them, subverted old ideas, and installed new ones; a man whose high brilliance did not give people vertigo, but clarified and lengthened their perspectives. Engaging, learned, and sparkling with wit and insight, Universal Man is the perfect match for its subject.
The Universal Right to Education: Justification, Definition, and Guidelines (Sociocultural, Political, and Historical Studies in Education)
by Joel SpringIn this book, Joel Spring offers a powerful and closely reasoned justification and definition for the universal right to education--applicable to all cultures--as provided for in Article 26 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One sixth of the world's population, nearly 855 million people, are functionally illiterate, and 130 million children in developing countries are without access to basic education. Spring argues that in our crowded global economy, educational deprivation has dire consequences for human welfare. Such deprivation diminishes political power. Education is essential for providing citizens with the tools for resisting totalitarian and repressive governments and economic exploitation. What is to be done? The historically grounded, highly original analysis and proposals Spring sets forth in this book go a long way toward answering this urgent question. Spring first looks at the debates leading up to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, to see how the various writers dealt with the issue of cultural differences. These discussions provide a framework for examining the problem of reconciling cultural differences with universal concepts. He next expands on the issue of education and cultural differences by proposing a justification for education that is applicable to indigenous peoples and minority cultures and languages. This justification is then applied to all people within the current global economy. Acknowledging that the right to an education is inseparable from children's rights, he uses the concept of a universal right to education to justify children's rights, and, in turn, applies his definition of children's liberty rights to the concept of education. His synthesis of cultural, language, and children's rights provides the basis for a universal justification and definition for the right to education -- which, in the concluding chapters, Spring uses to propose universal guidelines for human rights education, and instruction in literacy, numeracy, cultural centeredness, and moral economy.
Universalism without Uniformity: Explorations in Mind and Culture
by Julia L. Cassaniti Usha MenonOne of the major questions of cultural psychology is how to take diversity seriously while acknowledging our shared humanity. This collection, edited by Julia L. Cassaniti and Usha Menon, brings together leading scholars in the field to reconsider that question and explore the complex mechanisms that connect culture and the human mind. The contributors to Universalism without Uniformity offer tools for bridging silos that have historically separated anthropology’s attention to culture and psychology’s interest in universal mental processes. Throughout, they seek to answer intricate yet fundamental questions about why we are motivated to find meaning in everything around us and, in turn, how we constitute the cultural worlds we inhabit through our intentional involvement in them. Laying bare entrenched disciplinary blind spots, this book offers a trove of insights on issues such as morality, emotional functioning, and conceptions of the self across cultures. Filled with impeccable empirical research coupled with broadly applicable theoretical reflections on taking psychological diversity seriously, Universalism without Uniformity breaks new ground in the study of mind and culture.
Universality and Social Policy in Canada (The Johnson-Shoyama Series on Public Policy)
by Daniel Béland Gregory Marchildon Michael J. PrinceBringing together top scholars in the field, Universality and Social Policy in Canada provides an overview of the universality principle in social welfare. The contributors survey the many contested meanings of universality in relation to specific social programs, the field of social policy, and the modern welfare state. The book argues that while universality is a core value undergirding certain areas of state intervention—most notably health care and education—the contributory principle of social insurance and the selectivity principle of income assistance are also highly significant precepts in practice.
Universality and Translation: Sites of Struggle in Philosophy and Politics
by Gavin Arnall and Katie ChenowethWithin contemporary theory, the concepts of translation and universality have frequently been associated with different and even opposed philosophical and political projects: watchwords of either domination or liberation, the erasure of difference or the defense of difference. The universalizing drives of capitalism, colonialism, and other systems of oppression have precipitated widespread suspicion of any appeal to universality. This has led some, in turn, to champion the very notion of universality as antithetical to these systems of oppression. Similarly, recent scholarship has begun to grapple with the fundamental role of translation not only in forging inclusive democratic politics but also, by contrast, in violence, including imperial expansion and global war. The present volume advocates neither for nor against translation or universality as such. Instead, it attends to their insurmountable ambiguity and equivocity, the tensions and contradictions that are internal to both concepts and that exist between them. Indeed, the wager of this volume is that translation, universality, and their relationship name irreducible yet overlapping sites of struggle for a diverse array of struggles on the Left.Drawing from multiple intellectual traditions and orientations, with a special emphasis on deconstruction and Marxism, this volume both reveals and participates in a subterranean current of thought committed to theorizing the dynamic, plural, and ultimately inextricable relationship between translation and universality. Its contributors approach this problem in ways that challenge and unsettle dominant trends within translation studies and critical and postcolonial theory, thereby opening new lines of inquiry within and beyond these fields.
A Universe of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination
by Gerald M. Edelman Giulio TononiIn A Universe of Consciousness, Gerald Edelman builds on the radical ideas he introduced in his monumental trilogy-Neural Darwinism, Topobiology, and The Remembered Present-to present for the first time an empirically supported full-scale theory of consciousness. He and the neurobiolgist Giulio Tononi show how they use ingenious technology to detect the most minute brain currents and to identify the specific brain waves that correlate with particular conscious experiences. The results of this pioneering work challenge the conventional wisdom about consciousness.
The Universe of Experience: A Worldview Beyond Science and Religion
by Lancelot WhyteModern experience forces philosophy and social thought to confront the basic problems of value. Is this life worth caring about? How can we find a way between the deceit of fanatical belief and despair? In the view of Lancelot Law Whyte, the essential challenge to mankind today is an underlying nihilism promoting violence and frustrating sane policies on major social issues. Avoiding the seductive trap of utopianism, Whyte approaches this challenge by defining the terms of a potentially worldwide consensus of heart, mind, and will.In this volume, Whyte addresses the problems of despair and fanatical religious or political reactions that arise from despair. He begins with the basic problem of nihilism, or the tendency toward pessimism and self/other destruction that faces us at this point in human development. Rejecting all forms of religious sectarianism as separating God from the individual and people from each other, he discerns, as well, a fundamental disunity and incompleteness among the sciences that render them incapable of supplying a guide to social order. Whyte sees the universe as an arena of conflict between tendencies toward order and disorder with the former dominating and containing the latter. In place of science and traditional religion, Whyte draws upon what he sees as the unconscious tradition, a genius of the community, shared in degrees by all its members, that points mankind toward a better way of living.Whyte does not posit a state of perfection, nor does he suggest the end of human suffering. Instead he suggests that an integrated state of being, freed from the old mind-body dualism will be a new starting point in human evolution. Accessibly written and firmly rooted in science, philosophy, and history, The Universe of Experience will be of interest to sociologists, psychologists, and philosophers.
Universidad 2.0
by Rafael Rangel SostmanEl papel de las universidades en nuestra sociedad y su futuro en el desarrollo de la humanidadUna plataforma de reflexión para quienes están al frente de las instituciones.Ante las profundas transformaciones de nuestra sociedad, caracterizada, entre otros aspectos, por vivir un proceso de globalización en medio de la revolución digital, y por los desafíos que para el desarrollo plantea la nueva economía del conocimiento, la Universidad se ve obligada a redefinir la misión que debe desempeñar en la actualidad.Universidad 2.0 es la propuesta de un autor con la experiencia de ser rector durante 27 años de un importante sistema universitario. Según su autor, la misión de la universidad es convertirse en el motor del desarrollo económico, educativo y social; la generación del conocimiento necesario para resolver los grandes retos de desarrollo de nuestra realidad; el involucramiento social; el impulso de la equidad; así como el incremento de las oportunidades a fin de disminuir las brechas socioeconómicas.De tal manera, Universidad 2.0 es una plataforma de reflexión para quienes están al frente de las instituciones universitarias en nuestros países, así como de todos aquellos interesados en el desarrollo equilibrado de la humanidad.
Universities and Academic Labour in Times of Digitalisation and Precarisation (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Thomas AllmerThis book provides a critical perspective on the digitalisation of universities and precarisation of academic labour. While research and teaching become more virtual and digital at universities, academic labour is becoming more and more casualised and temporary. This book aims to analyse and theorise academic labour and study the experiences academic workers have made at universities that are shaped by economic, political and cultural contexts. It will be a valuable tool for international scholars and students of subjects such as media, communication and cultural studies, sociology, education, management and labour studies. The insights will also be of particular relevance for unions and other initiatives that are concerned about the working conditions at universities.
Universities and Epistemic Justice in a Plural World: Knowing Better (Debating Higher Education: Philosophical Perspectives #12)
by Margaret MeredithThis book explains why universities, and academics within them, must engage with the diversity of knowledges and knowers that exist in the world. Through philosophical perspectives, theoretical frameworks and practical examples from around the world, the book searches for opportunities for renewal and inclusion in universities. It explains how higher education can better serve the purposes of social justice by re-evaluating the types of knowledge it promotes. Going beyond the identification and analysis of injustices in ways of knowing in academia, the book offers insights and examples of practices in teaching, research and work with the community which aim to move towards justice on an epistemic level. It argues that inclusion in the domain of knowledge can lead to the generation of knowledges and understandings that are more robust and better equipped to address the pressing needs of the plural worlds outside the university. Contributions are included from authors working in varied disciplinary and cultural contexts in universities, who describe and explicate their work towards identifying epistemic injustice and finding spaces to advance knowledge justice in theory and in practice. The book will be beneficial to academics and those with an interest in the role of universities in serving the public good.
Universities and Innovation Economies: The Creative Wasteland of Post-Industrial Society
by Peter MurphyStudents drop out of universities in large numbers, many graduate to jobs that do not require a degree and a large number learn little at university, whilst graduate salaries have shrunk over time and student loan debt and default have grown. University research achievements have declined while university administration has expanded massively. The contemporary university is mired in auditing, regulation, waste and aimlessness and its contribution to serious social innovation has deteriorated markedly. The miserable state of the universities reflects a larger social reality, as bureaucratic capitalism has replaced creative capitalism. Universities and Innovation Economies examines the rise and fall of the mass university and post-industrial society, considering how we might revitalize economic and intellectual creativity. Looking to a much more inventive social and economic paradigm to drive long-term growth, the author argues for a smaller, leaner, more effective university model - one capable of delivering a greater degree of high-level discovery and creative power. A potent critique of the post-industrial mass university that urges a reimagination of universities as places of discovery and invention, this book will appeal to readers interested in higher education, creativity, social theory, the sociology of work and organisations, political economy, pedagogy and public policy.
Universities and Non-Governmental Organisations: A Comparative European Study of the Potential for Civil Society Collaboration
by Monika Banaś Franciszek Czech Małgorzata KołaczekIn the opinion of the general public, universities and NGOs would be natural partners for effective collaboration in many fields. They are indeed, but mainly in theory. This book examines the reasons why this is the case and what possible models of cooperation and facilitated dialogue between institutions of higher education system and NGOs could transform this theoretically optimal union into practice. The authors start with Poland and analyse legal, cultural and socio-economic factors, which impact upon the current state of affairs. Subsequently they move on to consider cases from four other European countries: Portugal, Austria, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Then they propose possible solutions, areas for further research and formulate recommendations for strengthening future cooperation between the two main types of actors which shape education and increase awareness in civil societies. Universities and Non-Governmental Organisations will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in higher education and research, public discourse and civil society.
Universities and Their Cities: Urban Higher Education in America
by Steven J. DinerThe first broad survey of the history of urban higher education in America.Today, a majority of American college students attend school in cities. But throughout the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries, urban colleges and universities faced deep hostility from writers, intellectuals, government officials, and educators who were concerned about the impact of cities, immigrants, and commuter students on college education. In Universities and Their Cities, Steven J. Diner explores the roots of American colleges’ traditional rural bias. Why were so many people, including professors, uncomfortable with nonresident students? How were the missions and activities of urban universities influenced by their cities? And how, improbably, did much-maligned urban universities go on to profoundly shape contemporary higher education across the nation?Surveying American higher education from the early nineteenth century to the present, Diner examines the various ways in which universities responded to the challenges offered by cities. In the years before World War II, municipal institutions struggled to "build character" in working class and immigrant students. In the postwar era, universities in cities grappled with massive expansion in enrollment, issues of racial equity, the problems of "disadvantaged" students, and the role of higher education in addressing the "urban crisis." Over the course of the twentieth century, urban higher education institutions greatly increased the use of the city for teaching, scholarly research on urban issues, and inculcating civic responsibility in students. In the final decades of the century, and moving into the twenty-first century, university location in urban areas became increasingly popular with both city-dwelling students and prospective resident students, altering the long tradition of anti-urbanism in American higher education. Drawing on the archives and publications of higher education organizations and foundations, Universities and Their Cities argues that city universities brought about today’s commitment to universal college access by reaching out to marginalized populations. Diner shows how these institutions pioneered the development of professional schools and PhD programs. Finally, he considers how leaders of urban higher education continuously debated the definition and role of an urban university. Ultimately, this book is a considered and long overdue look at the symbiotic impact of these two great American institutions: the city and the university.
Universities as Agencies: Reputation and Professionalization (Public Sector Organizations)
by Tom Christensen Åse Gornitzka Francisco O. RamirezThis book discusses how modern universities increasingly use reputation management in relation to internal and external challenges. Universities are increasingly characterized by social embeddedness, relating to many external stakeholders and international markets of students, researchers and research projects. This implies global pressure to standardize, formalize and rationalize their internal organization. The book uses data from China, Norway and US to show how reputation symbols are used and balanced, based on their web pages. Further, it uses extensive data from US universities to show how their internal organization structure is developing over time, related to three types of units/positions - development, diversity and legal offices and roles.
Universities as Drivers of Social Innovation: Theoretical Overview and Lessons from the "campUS" Research (Research for Development)
by Davide Fassi Paolo Landoni Francesca Piredda Pierluigi SalvadeoThis book reviews the social role of universities in their local urban contexts and describes a number of initiatives of major interest in terms of the impact achieved, the range of stakeholders involved, and the significance of the university campus and teachers as agents of change. It is divided into three parts, the first of which draws on the international literature to provide theoretical background regarding the role of universities and university campuses as drivers of and magnets for social innovation. The second and third parts each focus on four main themes of interest in the contemporary design setting: urban community gardens, social TV stations, mobile pavilions, and economic sustainability models. After a theoretical overview that also illustrates international best practices, it then focuses on the specific context of Milan, based on the pilot project recently conducted by the Politecnico di Milano, “CampUS - incubation and implementation of social practices”, which won the 25th ADI Compasso d’Oro Award (2018) in the social design category. The book is of interest to academics, students, those working at public institutions, and city policymakers.
Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development: Supporting the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (World Sustainability Series)
by Walter Leal Filho Amanda Lange Salvia Rudi W. Pretorius Luciana Londero Brandli Evangelos Manolas Fatima Alves Ulisses Azeiteiro Judy Rogers Chris Shiel Arminda Do PacoThis book fills an important gap in the literature, and presents contributions from scientists and researchers working in the field of sustainable development who have engaged in dynamic approaches to implementing sustainability in higher education. It is widely known that universities are key players in terms of the implementation and further development of sustainability, with some having the potential of acting as “living labs” in this rapidly growing field. Yet there are virtually no publications that explore the living labs concept as it relates to sustainability, and in an integrated manner. The aims of this book, which is an outcome of the “4th World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities” (WSSD-U-2018), held in Malaysia in 2018, are as follows: i. to document the experiences of universities from all around the world in curriculum innovation, research, activities and practical projects as they relate to sustainable development at the university level; ii. to disseminate information, ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of projects, including successful initiatives and good practice; iii. to introduce and discuss methodological approaches and projects that seek to integrate the topic of sustainable development in the curricula of universities; and iv. to promote the scalability of existing and future models from universities as living labs for sustainable development. The papers are innovative, cross-cutting and many reflect practice-based experiences, some of which may be replicable elsewhere. Also, this book, prepared by the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) and the World Sustainable Development Research and Transfer Centre (WSD-RTC), reinforces the role played by universities as living labs for sustainable development.
Universities in the Flux of Time: An exploration of time and temporality in university life
by Paul Gibbs Ronald Barnett Oili-Helena Ylijoki Carolina Guzmán-ValenzuelaHigher 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 time This 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.
Universities, Stakeholders and Social Mission: Building Cooperation Through Action Research (Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society)
by Ewa Bogacz-Wojtanowska Piotr Jedynak Sylwia Wrona Anna PluszyńskaToday's universities are confronted with questions about the increasing scale of corporatisation and commercialisation, as well as their decreasing activity in the field of the social mission, i.e., engagement in the real problems of ordinary people, local communities and society at large. As a remedy for this problem, this book proposes using action research as a means of shaping collaboration between universities and their stakeholders, taking into account related benefits, opportunities and challenges. In this context, we understand action research somewhat more broadly, as universities’ conducting useful research that becomes a domain of their social mission. The core message of this volume is the development of a cooperation process in which the university leaves its "ivory tower," builds relationships with its stakeholders and, as a result, engages more effectively in social life. In this book, readers will find an original perspective on action research, the application of which enables mutual benefits for universities and their stakeholders. It presents the authors’ original model of cooperation based on the AR approach and concrete examples of successful cooperation between universities and their stakeholders. Step by step, it illustrates how to initiate cooperation, conduct useful scientific research and together with stakeholders bring about changes in social life. This book will be of value to university managers, academics, students of social, management and economic sciences, as well as managers and specialists employed in organisations from various sectors that may be interested in cooperation with universities.
Universities, the Citizen Scholar and the Future of Higher Education (Palgrave Critical University Studies)
by James Arvanitakis David J. HornsbyThe future of higher education is in question as universities struggle to remain relevant to the present and future needs of society. The context in which learning occurs is rapidly changing and those engaged and interested in the place and position of university education need to figure out to adapt. This book embodies a vision for higher education where graduate attributes and proficiencies are at the core of the academic project, where degree programs move beyond disciplinary content and where students are encouraged to be Citizen Scholars. Through a series of cross-disciplinary and contextual cases, the contributors to this book articulate how this vision can be achieved in our pedagogical environments, future proofing higher education.
Universities, the Citizen Scholar and the Future of Higher Education (Palgrave Critical University Studies)
by David J. Hornsby James ArvanitakisThe future of higher education is in question as universities struggle to remain relevant to the present and future needs of society. The context in which learning occurs is rapidly changing and those engaged and interested in the place and position of university education need to figure out to adapt. This book embodies a vision for higher education where graduate attributes and proficiencies are at the core of the academic project, where degree programs move beyond disciplinary content and where students are encouraged to be Citizen Scholars. Through a series of cross-disciplinary and contextual cases, the contributors to this book articulate how this vision can be achieved in our pedagogical environments, future proofing higher education.
Universities under Neoliberalism: Ideologies, Discourses and Management Practices (Routledge Advances in Management Learning and Education)
by Mats Benner Mikael HolmqvistThe COVID-19 pandemic, the surge of populism, the climate crisis and many other destabilizing factors in our time, all point at the expectation of trustworthy knowledge and reliable organization devoted to knowledge production and dissemination. However, universities remain enmeshed in economic liberalization and ensuing cultural struggles where their funding, governance and practices reflect market imprints – even academic ideals such as originality, or social ideals such as relevance have been transformed into measurable units and thereby risk losing their historical sway. This predicament is the focus of this book. The book explores the rise of neo-liberalization in academic system in a highly unlikely place: Sweden, a country with a strong social democratic tradition and a long history of state regulation of higher education. As an advanced welfare state with a powerful labour movement and a large public sector, market ideals and practices have been carefully curtailed historically. This notwithstanding, a neoliberal university model has evolved there, reshaping notions of academic identities, institutional directions and notions of quality. This edited collection will be of value to researchers, academics and students with an interest in organizational studies, governance, management, higher education, sociology and politics.
Universities with a Social Purpose: Intentions, Achievements and Challenges (Sustainable Development Goals Series)
by Kerry Shephard V. SanthakumarThis book is a narrative of conversations between two professors, with different backgrounds, academic disciplines, life experiences, and from different continents. It shows how their discourse has brought them to a single destination defined by a mutual interest in the social purposes of universities, and a hope in common that their academic efforts will somehow do good in the world. The seventeen internationally-agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide focus for aspirations and plans regarding sustainability, but notably, the SDGs’ targets and indicators rarely provide detailed accounts of who is expected to enact change. This book addresses the role of higher education in this context and explores the social purposes of universities and their relation to the Sustainable Development Goals. It presents an academic analysis of this complex situation, based on insights from published literature on higher education, and the personal but very different experiences of two professors with this shared interest.
The University Against Itself: The NYU Strike and the Future of the Academic Workplace
by Andrew Ross Michael Palm Mary Nolan Monika KrauseThe essays in this book, written by people involved either involved in the strike (graduate students, faculty, organizers) or who are nationally recognized writers on academic labor, offers lessons on what the GSOC strike says about the current role of the university in public life, and how the pressure for universities to realign themselves along the lines of private corporations has broad implications for the future of higher education.