Understanding the University: Institution, Ideas and Possibilities

__Understanding the University__ constitutes the final volume in a trilogy – the first two books having been __Being a University__ (2010) and __Imagining the University__ (2012) – and represents the trilogy’s ultimate aims and endeavours. The three volumes together offer a unique attempt at a fairly systematic and exhaustive level to map out just what it might be seriously to understand the extraordinarily complex entity that is known across the world as ‘the university’. Through examination of the conditions and possibilities underlying and affecting universities, this work offers an understanding of specific ideas of the university which can inform policies, strategies and practices in relation to the university. This book is a must read for leaders and senior managers in universities , as well as those undertaking postgraduate studies in the policy and practice of higher education. Understanding the University constitutes the final volume in a trilogy -- the first two books having been Being a University (2010) and Imagining the University (2012) -- and represents the trilogy's ultimate aims and endeavors. The three volumes together offer a unique attempt at a fairly systematic and exhaustive level to map out just what it might be seriously to understand the extraordinarily complex entity that is known across the world as 'the university'. Through examination of the conditions and possibilities underlying and affecting universities, this work offers an understanding of specific ideas of the university which can inform policies, strategies and practices in relation to the university. This book is a must read for leaders and senior managers in universities, as well as those undertaking postgraduate studies in the policy and practice of higher education. -- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Title 8 Copyright 9 Dedication 10 CONTENTS 12 Series editors’ foreword 14 Acknowledgements 15 Introduction 18 PART I Planes of understanding 32 1 Reading the university 34 2 The great hole 47 3 Three planes of understanding 60 PART II The antagonistic university 74 4 Antagonisms 76 5 Seven forms of dialectic 88 PART III Glimpsing spaces 102 6 The possibility of possibilities 104 7 An inevitable remainder 118 8 The real thing 131 9 Holding together 145 PART IV Positive moments 160 10 Universals and particulars 162 11 The university as agent 175 12 Work for the visionaries 187 Coda: On not living in the ruins 201 Bibliographic note 204 Bibliography 207 Subject index 220 Name index 228 Institution, idea, possibilities