大学的缓慢死亡

摘要

This paper holds that critical distance between universities and society at large is now being diminished almost to nothing, in other words, the slow death of the university as a center of humane critique. British universities are in the process of Americanization, imitating the models of the entrepreneurial university. The system of self-government by academics is replaced by rule by hierarchy and bureaucracy. Vice chancellors behave as a CEO, senior professors are senior managers, and students are converted into consumers. Teaching has been a less vital business than research, because government grants are awarded on the basis of research output of each department. Academic merit is equated with how much money you can raise, while an educated student is redefined as an employable one. Subjects that do not attract lucrative research grants from private industry, or that are unlikely to pull in large numbers of students, are plunged into a state of chronic crisis. In the end, the author argues instead of regarding themselves as a service station for neocapitalism, universities should seek to restore the honorable lineage of the university as one of the few arenas in modern society. The British government should take educating the young generation as a social responsibility not as a matter of profit.%本文认为，大学在自身和整个社会之间建立起来的批判性空间已经减少到所剩无几的地步。换句话说，作为人文批判中心的大学已经在缓慢死亡。英国大学正在经历模仿公司型大学的美国化过程。教授自治被等级森严的官僚体制所取代，校长成了首席执行官，教授变成经理，学生变成消费者。教学远不及科研重要，因为政府拨款的多少依据科研成果的多寡。学界的地位高低取决于筹款能力的大小，学生质量的高低取决于他能否找到工作。不能吸引大笔横向科研基金或者招收大量学生的院系学科将陷入缓慢死亡的困境中。作者最后说，大学不应该把自己当做新资本主义的接待站，而是要积极恢复大学作为现代社会少数领域之一的光荣传统。英国政府应该承担起教育年轻人的社会责任而不是将大学视为赚钱的产业。