Table Of ContentThinking and Rethinking
the University
In the World Library of Educationalists series, international scholars compile
career-long selections of what they judge to be among their fi nest 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 fi eld.
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, particu-
larly papers from leading journals. This volume also includes, as its intro-
ductory chapter, an intellectual autobiography in which Professor Barnett
recounts the history of his scholarship and writing, traces its development
across fi ve stages, and identifi es the themes and sources of inspiration that
lie within his academic writing.
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 reorient and illuminate in fresh
ways practices in the university and in higher education. The chapters in this
volume reveal all of these qualities, making it a compelling overview of a
passionate and yet constructive critic of the university.
Ronald Barnett is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at the Institute
of Education, London.
World Library of Educationalists series
Thinking and Rethinking the In Search of Pedagogy Volume II
University The selected works of Jerome Bruner,
The selected works of 1979–2006
Ronald Barnett Jerome S. Bruner
Ronald Barnett
Reimagining Schools
The Politics of Race, Class and The selected works of Elliot W. Eisner
Special Education Elliot W. Eisner
The selected works of Sally Tomlinson
Sally Tomlinson Refl ecting Where the Action Is
The selected works of John Elliot
Lessons from History of Education John Elliot
The selected works of Richard Aldrich
Richard Aldrich The Development and Education of
the Mind
Knowledge, Power, and Education The selected works of Howard Gardner
The selected works of Michael Howard Gardner
W. Apple
Michael W. Apple Constructing Worlds through
Science Education
Education Policy and Social The selected works of John K. Gilbert
Class John K. Gilbert
The selected works of Stephen J. Ball
Stephen J. Ball Making Sense of Learners Making
Sense of Written Language
Race, Culture, and Education The selected works of Kenneth
The selected works of James A. Banks S. Goodman and Yetta M. Goodman
James A. Banks Kenneth S. Goodman and Yetta M. Goodman
In Search of Pedagogy Volume I Learning, Curriculum and
The selected works of Jerome Bruner, Life Politics
1957–1978 The selected works of Ivor F. Goodson
Jerome S. Bruner Ivor F. Goodson
Education and the Nation State Educational Philosophy and Politics
The selected works of S. Gopinathan The selected works of Michael A. Peters
S. Gopinathan Michael A. Peters
Educational Assessment, Evaluation Encountering Education in the Global
and Research The selected works of Fazal Rizvi
The selected works of Mary E. James Fazal Rizvi
Mary E. James
Landmarks in Literacy
Teaching, Learning and Education The selected works of Frank Smith
in Late Modernity Frank Smith
The selected works of Peter Jarvis
Peter Jarvis Corporatism, Social Control,
and Cultural Domination in
Education, Markets, and the Public Education: From the Radical
Good Right to Globalization
The selected works of David The selected works of Joel Spring
F. Labaree Joel Spring
David F. Labaree
The Curriculum and the Child
Politics, Policies and Pedagogies in The selected works of John White
Education John White
The selected works of Bob Lingard
Bob Lingard The Art and Science of Teaching and
Learning
A Life in Education The selected works of Ted Wragg
The selected works of John Macbeath E.C. Wragg
John Macbeath
China through the Lens of
Overcoming Exclusion Comparative Education
Social justice through education The selected works of Ruth Hayhoe
Peter Mittler Ruth Hayhoe
Learner-Centered English Language Multiculturalism in Education and
Education Teaching
The selected works of David Nunan The selected works of Carl A. Grant
David Nunan Carl A. Grant
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Thinking and Rethinking
the University
The selected works
of Ronald Barnett
Ronald Barnett
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Ronald Barnett
The right of Ronald Barnett to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Barnett, Ronald, 1947-
[Works. Selections]
Thinking and rethinking the university : the selected works of Ronald
Barnett / Ronald Barnett.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Education, Higher—Philosophy. 2. Education, Higher—Aims and
objectives. I. Title.
LB2322.3.B37 2014
378.001—dc23
2014020862
ISBN: 978-1-138-78507-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-76804-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
For David Watson
– who has accompanied so much of this journey
‘Thinking provokes general indifference. It is a dangerous exercise
nevertheless.’
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari,
What is Philosophy? (2013:41)
Contents
Acknowledgements xi
List of sources and permissions xii
Introduction 1
PART I
The university 23
1 Supercomplexity and the university 25
2 Situating the learning university 35
3 Recapturing the universal in the university 48
4 T he idea of the university in the 21st century:
where’s the imagination? 62
5 The coming of the ecological university 74
PART II
Higher education 91
6 Higher education: legitimation crisis 93
7 Does higher education have aims? 111
8 C onvergence in higher education: the
strange case of ‘Entrepreneurialism’ 127
