The Uses of the University: Public Higher Education and Democracy

John Holmwood

This talk will address the implications of recent reforms to higher education in England (and elsewhere) that align the university with a global knowledge economy. It will suggest that the reforms are a response to the emergence of mass higher education, but involve a shift away from understanding education as a social right and the expression of an inclusive public interest to an understanding of it as an investment in human capital and the expression of a private interest of individuals. This involves giving priority to the marketisation of the functions of a university and the displacement of those functions that cannot be marketised, including its functions for democracy.

John Holmwood is Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham. He is the current president of the British Sociological Association. He is also the co-founder of the Campaign for the Public University.

 Wednesday, 12 February (4pm.)

Venue: 1^st Floor Lecture Theatre, Room 1.13, 126 Mount Pleasant (CLL)

To book for this lecture go to: uculecture1@ulivucu.org.uk

ALL WELCOME