The pragmatic university: a feasible utopia?

Abstract

‘Imaginings’ of the modern university include such ideas as ‘the ecological university’ and ‘the pragmatic university’. In his attempt to separate utopian from dystopian visions of the university, Ronald Barnett concentrates on an analysis of the ecological university and ignores, for example, the case of the pragmatic university. In this critical response the author focuses on the feasibility of the pragmatic university and argues that it easily passes four out of five of Barnett's tests of utopian adequacy: depth, emergence, ethics and range. The main problem arises with the fifth criterion, that of feasibility, given that most modern universities as well as their local and global contexts are infected with such ‘pernicious ideologies’ as entrepreneurialism, globalization and managerialism. The author concludes by suggesting that, nevertheless, there is at least a faint gleam of utopian hope about the future of the modern pragmatic university.

Keywords:

• democracy
• freedom
• hope
• humanism
• justice
• solidarity