What is at stake in what Gerald Chan calls “the contemporary struggle for the soul of the university”? In his keynote address on The Research University in Today’s Society, delivered to the University College London on Thursday, July 14, 2016, Chan suggests that the very nature of society is at risk when the university’s mission is focused solely on generating human resources rather than on furthering human progress.
Tracing the evolution of the role of the university from pre-Enlightenment to today, Chan provides several examples of the close relationship of the university to the economy, and how talent has displaced labor, raw materials, and cost as the most critical factor of success. In contrast to these current trends, he describes certain research breakthroughs, including the development of the Nobel prize-winning green fluorescent protein from a jellyfish, in which independence from economic imperatives and the ability to follow professional curiosity has had huge and unforeseen impacts on cell biology, scientific advancement, and societal progress in general.
In proposing a path forward for research universities both in England and the U.S., Chan calls for greater balance between the goals of liberal education and professional training. He suggests that preservation of the university’s diversity of purpose, fields of study, and methods of inquiry is best supported by an institutional culture of inclusiveness and tolerance as well as a financial model of public-private partnerships. This financial model protects the scholarly independence of research universities, promotes educational opportunities for underprivileged students, and helps to advance the research university’s fundamental goal of working toward social progress.
